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THE LIFE 



PUBLIC SERVICES 



HON. JAIES KNOX POLE. 

WITH A 

COMPENDIUM OF HIS SPEECHES 

ON 

i)ari0U0 public Mca^xnts. 



^ 




ALSO, 

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE 

OF THE 

HON. GEORGE MIFFLIN DALLAS, 

BALTIMORE: ,1 

PUBLISHED BY N. HICKMAN, 

No. 88 BALTIMORE STREET. 

1 844. 



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Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and forty-four, by Nathaniel Hickman, in the Clerk's office of 
the District Court of Maryland. 



John Mdrphy, Printer, 

14& Market street,- Baltimort, 



THIRD EDITION, 



THE LIFE 



PUBLIC SERVICES 



HON. JAMES KNOX POLK, 



COMPENDIUM OF HIS SPEECHES 



iPij^il^ifts f|)ift3)His: Mm^id^a^^. 



A SKETCH OF THE LIFE 



HON. GEORGE MIPPLIN DALLAS 




PHILADELPHFA: G. B. Z[EBER & CO., R. G. BERFORD, ROBINSON & PETERSON. 

BOSTON: REDDING & CO. BALTIMORE: W. TAYLOR. 

NEW ORLEANS: BRAVO & MORGAN. 

PITTSBURG: GEORGE QUIGLEY. 

Murphy, print. 1844. Baltimore. 



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GZSORGZ: M. DAZ.I.AS 



AND THE 



UNITED STATES BANK 



'33 Mr. Dallas represented Pennsylvania in llie 
In obedience to positive instructions from his 




i 







In 1832 and 
U. S. Senate. 

State Legislature lie voted for the extension of the charter of Gi^ 
the U. S. Bank. The Democratic party have ever recognized (t|3>(^ 
the doctrine of instruction. Mr. Dallas obeyed the instructions OR^ 
and voted for the bank. How unlike has been the course of Mr. K^Xo 
Clay. Instructed by the Legislature of his State in 1824 to GJ^ 
vote for General Jackson for the presidency, he disobeyed them, (if^Xr, 
and entered into a coalition with John Quincy Adams, by which ySQ 
the latter was elected President and the former Secretary of ©^4^ 
State. His course in regard to the bankrupt law is not less vg^ 
selfish. He disobeyed again the almost unanimous wish and foc^Q 



y^^ instructions of his constituents, by refusing to vote for the repeal 
(bcv? of the bankrupt law, which was defeated by his vote, and thus 



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0X9 



entered into another coalition with the speculators, financiers, 
&c. of the country, by which, in 1844, they were to give him 
their undivided support. 

The following are extracts from a letter of Mr. Dallas to a 
Democratic committee of Smithfield, Pa. dated 7th July, 1836, 
and are chiefly in vindication of General Jackson's veto : 

" The bill passed both houses of Congress, but met from the 
Roman tribune who filled the executive ofiice, in whose elevation 
I had taken an active part, and from the great current of whose 
policy and spirit the Democracy of America expected the won- 
ders of renovation and reform he has since achieved, a signal 
and overwhelming veto. 

"From the moment of the veto, the enraged board, heretofore (b^?^ 
discreet and plausible, tore off the mask, stripped itself rapidly vg^ 

^ 



50 



of all disguise, and under the flimsy pretext of being first assailed, 
entered at a bound and with bluster into the arena of political 
strife. The chief magistrate of the country became the mark of 
its contumely and vindictive thrusts. Town meetings were con- 
vened to exasperate party. Bank banners were paraded on 

[Turn to 3d page of cover. 



^ 






?^ 






every election ground. Oificial manifestoes, equally arrogant 
and inflammatory, were issued. Legislation was to be overawed, 
the citizens intimidated, the elective franchise depreciated, or 
controlled, the country revolutionized ! This was a process of 
recharter which seemed to prostitute the powers and to defeat 
the purpose of the corporation. It involved practices and pre- 
tensions utterly irreconcilable with what were ivell known to 
me to have been the pure objects and Democratic principles of 
its founders. It gave reality at once to the vivid pictures drawn 
in Congress of the ambitious tendencies and dangerous influences 
of such a moneyed agent. It threw me irresistibly back upon 
the pledge which, as a republican senator, I had openly given in 
^ that high sphere of representative duty, and I witnessed and 
^ shared with pride the manly and vigorous and triumphant 
resistance by which its usurpations w^ere encountered and 
finally prostrated. 

" But, uncompromising hostility to any bank which shall start 
from its prescribed path and strict subordination, shall venture 
to mingle in politics, and shall, covertly or boldly, formally or 
informally, gather, exasperate and lead party for the attainment 
of its ends, is, in my estimation, an imperative obligation upon 
those who desire to perpetuate the virtue and freedom which 
characterize our social and political system. 

"The PEOPLE OF America can never again incur the risk 
OF a national bank. 

" Providence, among its numerous merciful dispensations, or- 
dained this struggle to occur while yet enough of primitive De- 
mocracy and revolutionary energy remained to secure its issue : 
at a time when the watch tower was tenanted by one whose lofty 
patriotism attracted unbounded confidence, while from his stern 
presence and inflexible purpose the efforts of intimidation, cla- 
mour or blandishment, virithdrew defeated and unavailing. 

" I am aware that speculative writers deny the competency of 
one Legislature to impair the power of its successor, or to grant 
away a franchise which may not be recalled at discretion: but 
however ingenious and plausible such a position may be made to 
appear on paper, it is repelled by all history and all practice. 
Every session of our own general assembly ever convened has 
acted irreconcilably with such a doctrine. The case is one in 
which resource to an extreme theory, ever so captivatino-, would 
be unwise." 



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UNITED STATES BANK AND DISTRIBUTION 



BaiBiiiBiiiiiiii|iiiii|iiBiiiiii»{iiiM|iiiiiiii: 



House of Representativi.s, > 
Washington, June 4, 1844. I 

Dear Sir, — Should you be elected to the office of Vice 
President of the United States, would you, in any capacity in 
which you might be called to act, aid in the eslablishment of 
another United States Bank, or in the distribution of the pro- 
ceeds of the public lands among the different states ? 

I need not, I presume, apprise you that my object in pro- 
curing your answer to this question is solely to acquaint the 
public therewith. I hope that it may be given before the ad- ^S^'^ 
journment of the present session of Congress. ~ 

I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

J. WENT WORTH. 

Hon. Geo. M. Dallas. 



% 



Philadelphia, June 8, 1844. 

Dear Sir, — In accepting the nomination with which the 
Democratic National Convention unexpectedly honored me, I 
certainly conceived myself, at the same moment, as acquiescing 
in the political principles enunciated in the resolutions passed 
by that body, and as engaging with solemnity to cherish and 
exemplify them " in any capacity in which I might be called upon 
to act,'''' should that nomination result in my election to the office 
of Vice President. Had I discovered, among those standard 
resolutions, a rule of conduct, legislative or executive, with 
which in a material feature, my mind refused to accord, I could 
not, without being inexcusably disingenuous, have consented to 
become the candidate of the party as whose creed they were 
justly and fairly proclaimed. In recalling your attention, there- 
fore, with this remark, to the full and formal declaration of doc- 
trine published as of the proceedings of the Convention, you 
will doubtless perceive that I have given a direct and compre- 
hensive answer to your inquiry. As, however, your stated ob- 
ject in requesting this letter suggests to me the expediency and 
propriety of being, on the two topics to which alone you have 
referred, even more explicit, allow me undisguisedly to aver 
that, as tlip. relation now subsisting between the national de- 
mocracy and their candidates is appreciated by me, it would be 
impossible that I should, by an official action, aid in the estab- 
lishment of another bank of the United States, or in the distri- 
bution of the proceeds of the public lands among the different 
states, without deservedly incurring the imputation of a breach 9|S 
of good faith, and the consequent and worse penalties of self- ^|S 
reproach. With great respect, I am, dear sir, «)iS 

Your friend and obedient servant, (oS 

G. M. DALLAS. n& 

Hon. John Wentworth, M. C. 03 

BiBBMBBBiilBBnMiii MiiiM MMP'l ftJiiMilPM lis^ 



^«W?!H?g^Hl^ 



LIFE 



HON. JAMES K. POLK 



"James K. Polk, who is the oldest of ten children, was born 
in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, on the second of No- 
vember, 1795, and is consequently in the 49th year of his age. 
His ancestors, whose original name, PoUock, has, by obvious tran- 
sition, assumed its present form, emigrated more than a century 
ago, from Ireland, a country from which many of our most 
distinguished men are proud to derive their origin. They 
established themselves first in Maryland, where some of their 
descendants still sojourn. The branch of the family from which 
is sprung the subject of this memoir, removed to the neighbor- 
hood of Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, and thence to the western 
frontier of North Carolina, sometime before the revolutionary 
war. Its connection with that eventful struggle is one of rare 
distinction. On the twentieth of May, 1775, consequently more 
than a twelvemonth anterior to the declaration of the Fourth of 
July, the assembled inhabitants of Mecklenburg county publicly 
absolved themselves from their allegiance to the British crown, 
and issued a formal manifesto of independence in terms of manly 
eloquence, which have become 'familiar as household words' 
to the American people. Col. Thomas Polk, the prime mover 
in this act of noble daring, and one of the signers of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, was the great uncle of the present 
Speaker, who is also connected with the Alexanders, Chairman 
and Secretary of the famous meeting, as well as with Dr. 
Ephraim Brevard, the author of the Declaration itself.* 

* Tradition ascribes to Thomas Polk the principal agency in bringing about 
the Declaration. He appears to have given the notice for the election of the 
Convention, and (being the colonel of the county) to have superintended the 
election in each of the militia districts. He had been for a long time engaged 
in the service of the province as a surveyor, and as a member of the assembly ; 
and was thus intimately acquainted, not only in Mecklenburg, but in the coun- 
ties generally. His education had been acquired, not within the classic walla 
of an English university, but among his own native hills, and amidst the pas- 
sions and feelings of his countrymen. Dr. Ephraim Brevard (the author of the 



"Mr. Jefferson havin*. sincerelv, no doabt, but upon merelr 
BC^QTe sToands, qoestioned the authenticitT of this interesting 
piece of historv, the Legislature of North Carolina, with a 
becomins pride of patriotism, caused the evidence establishing 
its validirv to be collected in a complete shape, and deposited 
in the archives of the Sute. The people of Mecklenburg were, 
almost to a man, staunch Whigs, in the genuine, revoluiionarr 
acceptation of the term, and have been up to the present daj 
remarkable for their unwavering adherence to democratic prin- 
ciples. As an evidence of the smrdv independence which char- 
acterizes them, it is oftea pleasantly observed that, at the last 
war, thev took up arms six months before, and did not lay them 
down until twelve months after, the government. In the con- 
test for independence several of Mr. Polk's relatives distin- 
gaisbed themselves, even to the peril of life. To be allied to 
such a people and lineage, is a fit subject for honorable pride. 
Libertv does not frown upon the indulgence of a sentiment so 
natnral. She does not reject the heritage of honor, while refus- 
ing to add to it social or political distinctions subversive of 
equal rishis- The American people have always manifested an 
affectionate regard for those who bear the names of the heroes 
or manvrs of the revolution. They furnish not a proof of the 
alleged ingratitude of republics. 

"The father of Mr. Polk was a farmer of unassuming pre- 
tensions, bat enterprising character. Thrown upon his own 
resources in early life, he became the architect of his own for- 
tunes. He was a warm supporter of Mr. Jefferson, and through 
life a firm and consistent republican. In the autumn of 1806 
he reflMTed to Tennessee, where he was among the first pioneers 
•f the fertile valley of Duck river, then a wilderness, but now 
the most flourishing and populous portion of the State. The 
magical growth of a country which was bat yesterday redeemed 
from the sole dominion of nature, is a phenomenon of great 

Dedafa&oB) aad Wn^^itstfll Arefy, (flie fcst attoney-geoenl of Xwtfa Caro- 
fim) woe aea of Qmc irigfaest H- yy"-a< atfahnrr"*". a»i cootribatio; tfaeir ^ 
m^kemedxtaomnes to ibeAnmAwaJ&ntalkasaBmot Thomas Ftik^Y'odand 
a Dedbntiatt. at that tine naralkd, not oalj^ far tke aeatMS of its style, bat 
fiirAeaanlsablnJIrflfitecaBe^tiaa.^-Jbon' Jbrti CdnHa^ 

fteiBy, tile wfaofe jntee^a^ were read distinctly aad aoditity at the court 
fco«e door, by CoL ThoBK Polk, to a lar»e, respectabte aad approvi^ aaeem- 
U^e of cdizeas, wIm w«e preseat, aad gave saactioB to the bosineas of tlie 
ill! Miiirnf ffrr Ifaiihiij Huat-r "^ 



jxyn.i K- POLK. 



moral and political interest, and cannot fail to iaprcsa a char- 
acter of strength and enteq)rise apon the aatbors and partici- 
pators of the wonderfal result. How can man lao^niah or halt 
vben all aroand him is expanding and adrancin* with irrepres- 
sible energy ^ In this region Mr. Polk gtill resides, so that he 
may be said, literallj, to have grovB with its growth and strength- 
ened with its strength. Of coarse, in the infancy of its set- 
tlement the opportonities for iastmctioA co«ld not he g^cat. 
Notwithstanding this disadvantage — and the still m«ve fomi- 
dable one, of a painful affliction, from which, after jears of 
snffering, he was finally reliered by a sarpcal operation — he 
acquired the elements of a good English edncation. Ap^H^e- 
hending that his constimtion had been too mach impaired to 
permit the confinement of study, his father determined, moch, 
however, against the will of the son, to make of him a commer- 
cial man ; and with this view actually placed him with a mer- 
chant. Upon what slender threads hang the destinies ti life 1 
A little more and the nncomprmnising opponent of the Ba»lc <^ 
the Cnited States, and the Democratic candidate for the highest 
office in the gift of seventeen milliims of fiecmin , m^t have 
been at this day, in spite of hb origin and early tendencies, a 
liVhig preacher of panics, uttering jeremiads for the fate of that 
shadowy and intangible thing yclept * Credit System,* 

qe it Bo^t be calPd, tbat Aape had wne. 




"He remained a few weeks in a sitnatioB adverse to his 
wishes and incompatible with his taste. Finallv, his eaniesc 
appeals sacceeded in overcoming the resistance of hb father, and 
in July, 1813. he was placed first wider the care of the Rev. 
Dr. Henderson, and subsequently at the academy ui Mnrfrees- 
boroQgh, Tennessee, then under the directioa of Mr. Samuel P. 
Black, jasdy celebrated in that region as a classical teacher. 
In the autumn of 1815 he entered the University of North 
Carolina, having, in less than two years and a half, tbwoa^j 
prepared himself to commence his collegiate coarse. It will 
be seen, from this hasty sketch, that the history of CoL Polk 
furnishes an interesting example of talent and perseverance 
triumphing over disheartening difficulties in early life. So fre- 
quent are such in ^ranees that it woald almost seem that tmc 



merit requires tiie ordeal of adverse circumstances to strengthen 
its temper and distinguish it from unsubstantial pretension. 

"Mr. Polk's career at the University was distinguished. At 
each semi-annual examination he bore away the first honor, and 
finally graduated in 1818 with the highest distinction of his 
class, and with the reputation of being the first scholar in both 
the mathematics and the classics. Of the former science he was 
passionately fond, though equally dislinguished as a linguist. 
His course at college was marked by the same assiduity and 
studious application which have since characterized him. His 
ambition to excel was equalled by his perseverance alone, in 
proof of which it is said that he never missed a recitation, nor 
omitted the punctilious performance of any duty. Habits of 
close application at college are apt to be despised by those who 
pride themselves on brilliancy of mind, as if they were incom- 
patible. This is a melancholy mistake. Geniu« has even been 
defined the faculty of application. The latter is, at least, some- 
thing better, and more available. So carefully has Mr. Polk 
avoided the pedantry of classical display, which is the false taste 
of our day and country, as almost to hide the acquisitions which 
distinguished his early career. His preference for the useful 
and substantial, indicated by his youthful passion for the mathe- 
matics, has made him select a style of elocution which would, 
perhaps, be deemed too plain by the shallow admirers of flashj^ 
declamation. The worst of all styles is the florid and exagge- 
rated. It is that of minds which are, as it were, overlaid by 
their acquisitions. They break down beneath a burden which 
they have not strength to bear, — 

'Deep versed in books, but shallow in themselves.' 

" The mind should rather be fertilized by culture than encum- 
bered with foreign productions. Pedantry is at once the result 
and proof of sciolism. 

"Returning to Tennessee from the State which is, in two 
senses, his alma mater, with health considerably impaired by 
excessive application, Mr. Polk, in tiie beginning of the year 
1819, commenced the study of the law in the oflice of the late 
Senator Grundy, and late in 1820 was a.lmitted to the bar. He 
commenced his professional career in the county of Maury, with 
great advantages, derived from the connection of his family with 
its early settlement. To this hour his warmest friends are the 



JAMKS K. POLK. / 

sharers of his father's eavly privations and difficulties, and the 
associates of his own youth. But his success was due to his 
personal qualities, stili more than to extrin&ic advantages, A 
republican in habits as well as in principles, depending for the 
maintenance of his dignity upon the esteem of others, and not 
upon his own assumption, his manners conciliated the general 
good will. The confidence of his friends was justified by the 
result. His thorough academical preparation, his accurate know- 
ledge of the law, his readiness and resources in debate, his 
unwearied application to business, secured l>in>, at once, full 
employment, and in less than a year he was already a leading 
practitioner. Such prompt success in a profession where the 
early stages are proverbially slow and discouraging falls to the 
lot of few. 

"Mr. Polk continued to devote some years exclusively to the 
laborious prosecution of his profession, with a progressive aug- 
mentation of reputation, and the more solid rewards by which it 
is accompanied. . In 1823 he entered upon the stormy career of 
politics, being chosen to represent his county in the State Legis- 
lature by a heavy majority over the former incumbent, but not 
without formidable opposition. He was, for two successive 
years, a member of that body, where his ability in debate and 
talent for business at once gave hhn reputation. The early per- 
sonal and political friend of General Jackson, he was one of 
those who, in the session of 1823-4, called that distinguished 
man from his retirement by electing him to the Senate of the 
United States; and he looks back with pride to the part he took 
in an act which was followed by such important consequences. 
In August, 1825, being then, in his thirtieth year, Mr. Polk was 
chosen to represent his district in Congress, and in the ensuing 
December took his seat in that body, where he has remained 
ever since. He brought with him into the national councils 
those fundamental principles to which he has adhered through 
all the personal mutations of party. From his early youth he 
was a republican of the * straitest sect.' He has ever regarded 
the Constitution of the United States as an instrument of spe- 
cific and limited powers, and that doctrine is at the very foun- 
dation of the democratic creed. Of course he has ever been 
what is termed a strict constructionist, repudiating, above all 
things, the latitudinarian interpretations of federalism, which 
tend to the consolidation of all power in the central government. 



•' When Mr. Polk entered Congress he was, with one or two 
exceptions, the junior member of that body. But capacity like 
his could not long remain unnoticed. In consequence of the 
palpable disregard of the public will manifested in the election 
by the House of Mr. Adams, together with the means by which 
it was effected, a proposition was brought forward, and much 
discussed at the time, to amend the constitution in such manner 
as to give the choice of President and Vice President imme- 
diately and irreversibly to the people. In favor of this propo- 
sitioif Mr. Polk made his first speech in Congress, which at once 
attracted the attention of the country by the force of its reason- 
ing, the copiousness of its research, and the spirit of honest 
indignation by which it was animated. It was at once seen that 
his ambition was to distinguish himself by substantial merit 
rather than by rhetorical display, the rock upon which most 
young orators split. At the same session, that egregious mea- 
sure of political Quixotism, the Panama mission, which was pro- 
posed in contempt of the sound maxim, to cultivate friendship 
with all nations, yet engage in entangling alliances with none, 
gave rise to a protracted debate in both Houses of Congress. 
The exploded federal doctrine was upon this occasion revived, 
that as under the constitution the President and Senate exclu- 
sively are endowed with the treaty-making faculty, and that of 
originating and appointing to missions, their acts under that 
power become the supreme law of the land, nor can the House 
of Representatives deliberate upon, much less, in the exercise 
of a sound discretion, refuse the appropriations necessary to 
carry them into effect. Against a doctrine so utterly subversive 
of the rights and powers of the popular branch of Congress, as 
well as of the fundamental principles of democracy, Mr. Polk 
strenuously protested, embodying his views in a series of resolu- 
tions, which reproduced, in a tangible shape, the doctrines, on 
this question, of the republican party of '98. The first of these 
resolutions, which presents the general principle with brevity 
and force, runs thus: ' that it is the constitutional right and duty 
of the House of Representatives, when called upon for appro- 
priations to defray the expenses of foreign missions, to deliberate 
upon the expediency or inexpediency of such missions, and to 
determine and act thereon as in their judgment may seem most 
conducive to the public good.' 

'• From this time Mr. Polk's history is inseparably interwoven 



JAMES K. I'OLK. 



witli that of the House. He is prominently connected with 
every important question, and upon every one, as by an unerring 
instinct of republicanism, took the soundest and boldest ground. 
From his entrance into public life, his adherence to the cardinal 
principles of the Democratic creed has been singularly steadfast. 
During the whole period of General Jackson's administration, 
as long as he retained a seat on the floor, he was one of its lead- 
ing supporters, and at times, and on certain questions of para- 
mount importance, its chief reliance. In the hour of trial he 
was never found wanting, or from his post. In December, 1827, 
two years after his entrance in the House, Mr. Polk was placed 
on the important committee of Foreign Aftairs, and some time 
after was appointed, in addition, chairman of the select com- 
mittee to which was referred that portion of the President's 
message calling the attention of Congress to the probable accu- 
mulation of a surplus in the treasury, after the anticipated 
extinguishment of the national debt. As the head of this 
committee he made a lucid report, replete with the soundest 
doctrines, ably enforced, denying the constitutional power of 
Congress to collect from the people, for distribution, a surplus 
beyond the wants of the Government, and maintaining that the 
revenue should be reduced to the exigencies of the public service. 

"The session of 1830 will always be distinguished by the death 
blow which was then given to the unconstitutional system of 
internal improvements by the General Government. We have 
ever regarded the Maysville Road veto as second in importance 
to none of the acts of General Jackson's energetic administration. 
AMien the bill was returned by the President unsigned a storm 
urosc in the House, in the midst of which the veto was attacked 
(y a torrent of passionate declamation, mixed with no small share 
of personal abuse. To a member from Ohio, whose observations 
partook of the latter character, Mr. Polk replied in an energetic 
improvisation, vindicating the patriotic resolution of the Chief 
Magistrate. The friends of States Rights in the House rallied 
manfully upon the veto. The result was that the bill was re- 
jected, and countless ' log-rolling^ projects for the expenditure 
of many millions of the public treasure, which awaited the 
decision, perished in embryo. 

"In December, 1832, he was transferred to the committee of 
Ways and Means, with which his connection has been so dis- 
tinguished. At that session the directors of the Bunk of the 
2 



10 LlkE OF 

United States were summoned to Washington, and examined 
upon oath before the committee just named. A division of opin- 
ion resulted in the presentation of two reports. That of the 
majority, which admitted that the Bank had exceeded its lawful 
powers bj interfering with the plan of the government, to pay 
off the tliree per cent, stock, was tame, and unaccompanied by 
pertinent facts, or elucidating details. Mr. Polk, in behalf of 
the minority, made a detailed report, communicating all the 
material circumstances, and presenting conclusions utterly 
adverse to the institution which had been the subject of inquiry. 
This arrayed against him the whole bank power, which he was 
made to feel in a quarter where he had every thing at stake, for 
upon his return to his district he found the most formidable 
opposition mustered against him for his course upon this ques- 
tion. The friends of the United States Bank held a meeting at 
Nashville to denounce his report. The most unscrupulous mis- 
representations were resorted to in order to prove that he had 
destroyed the credit of the west, by proclaiming that his coun- 
trymen were unv/orthy of mercantile confidence. The result, 
however, was, that, after a violent contest, Mr. Polk was re- 
elected by a majority of more than three thousand. Fortunately 
for the stability of our institutions, the panics which 'frighten 
cities from their propriety' do not sweep with the same deso- 
lating force over the scattered dwellings of the country. 

" In vSeptember, 1833, the President, indignant at the open 
defiance of law by the Bank of the United States, and the un- 
blushing corruption which it practised, determined upon the 
bold and salutary measure of the removal of the deposites, which 
was effected in the following month. The act produced much 
excitement throughout the country, and it was foreseen that a 
great and doubtful conflict was about to ensue. At such a crisis 
it became important to have at the head of the committee of 
Ways and Means, a man of courage to meet, and firmness to 
sustain, the formidable shock. Such a man was found in Mr. 
Polk, and he proved himself equal to the occasion. Congress 
met, and tlie conflict proved even fiercer than had been antici- 
pated. The cause of the bank was supported in the House by 
such men as Mr. McDufiie, Adams and Binney, not to mention 
a host of other names. It is instructive to look back in calmer 
times to the reign of terror known as the Panic Session. The 
bank, with the whole commerce of the country at its feet, alter- 



JAMES K. POLK. 11 

nately torturing and casing its miserable pensioners as they 
increased or relaxed their cries of financial agony ; public meet- 
ings held in every city with scarcely the intermission of a day, 
denouncing the President as a tyrant and the enemy of his coun- 
try; deputations flocking from the towns to extort from him a 
reluctant submission; Whig orators traversing the country and 
stimulating the passions of excited multitudes, without reject 
even to the sanctity of the Sabbath; inflammatory memorials 
poured into Congress from every quarter; the Senate almost 
decreeing itself into a state of permanent insurrection, and pro- 
claiming that a revolution had already begun; all the business 
of legislation in both wings of the Capitol postponed to that of 
agitation and panic; an extrajudicial and branding sentence 
pronounced upon the Chief Magistrate of the nation, in violation 
of usage and of the constitution, — these features present but a 
faint picture of the alarm and confusion which prevailed. Con- 
sternation had almost seized upon the republican ranks, thinned 
by desertions and harassed by distracting doubts and fears. 
But the stern resolve of him whose iron arm guided the helm of 
State, conducted the perilous conflict to a successful issue. Nor 
should we forget the eminent services of the individual who pre- 
sided over the committee of Ways and Means. His coolness, 
promptitude and abundant resources were never at fault. His 
opening speech in vindication of the President's measure, con- 
tains all the material facts and reasons on the republican side of 
the question, enforced with much power and illustrated by great 
research. To this speech almost every member of the oppo- 
sition, who spoke upon the question, attempted to reply, but the 
arguments which its author brought forward to establish the 
power of the President under the constitution, as elucidated by 
contemporaneous or early exposition, to do the act, which had 
been so boldly denounced as a high-handed and tyrannical usur- 
pation, could neither be refuted nor weakened. Mr. McDuffie, 
the distinguished leader of the opposition in this eventful con- 
flict, bore testimony, in his concluding remarks, to the • boldness 
and manliness' with which Mr. Polk had assumed the only posi- 
tion which could be judiciously taken. The financial portion of 
his speech, and that in which he exposed the glaring misdeeds 
of the bank, were no less efficient. When Mr. McDuffie had 
concluded the remarks to which we have alluded, a member 
from Virginia, after a few pertinent observations, demanded the 



12 LIFE OF 

previous question. A more intense excitement was never felt 
in Congress than at this thrilling moment. The two parties 
looked at each other for a space, in sullen silence, like two 
armies on the eve of a deadly conflict. The motion of Mr. 
Mason prevailed, the debate Avas arrested, and the division 
proved a triumphant victory for the republican cause. The bank 
therf gave up the contest in despair. 

*' The position of the chairman of the committee of Ways and 
Means, at all times a most arduous and responsible one, was 
doubly so at this session, which will form an epoch in the politi- 
cal annals of the country. Mr. Polk occupied it for the first 
time. From its organization and the nature of its duties, this 
committee must be at all times the chief organ of every admin- 
istration in the House. At this session it was for obvious 
reasons peculiarly so. To attack it then was to strike at the 
government; to embarrass its action was to thwart the course of 
the administration. Extraordinary and indiscriminate opposition 
was accordingly made to all the appropriation bills. It was 
avowed in debate that it was within the scope of legitimate oppo- 
sition to withhold even the ordinary supplies until the deposites 
were restored to the Bank of the United States; that this resti- 
tution must be made, or revolution ensue. The bank must tri- 
umph or the wheels of government be arrested. The people 
should never forget the perils of a contest in which they were 
almost constrained to succumb. The recollection should warn 
them not to build up again a power in the state of such formida- 
ble faculties. The tactics which we have just described threw 
great additional labour upon the committee, and particularly 
upon its chairman. Fully apprised of the difficulties he had to 
encounter, he maintained his post with sleepless vigilance and 
untiring activity. He was always ready to give the House am- 
ple explanations upon every item, however minute, of the various 
appropriations. He was ever prompt to meet any objections 
which might be started, and of quick sagacity to detect the arti- 
fices to which factious disingenuousness is prone to resort. All 
the measures of the committee, including those of paramount 
importance, relating to the bank and the deposites, were carried 
in spite of the most immitigable opposition. The true-hearted 
republicans, who conducted this critical conflict to a successful 
issue, among whom Mr. Polk occupies a distinguished rank, 
deserve the lasting gratitude of the country. 



JAMES K. POLK. 13 

" Towavcls the close of the memorable session of 1834 Mr. 
Speaker Stevenson resigned the chair, as well as his seat in the 
House. The majority of the democratic party preferred Mr. 
Polk as his successor, but in consequence of a division in its 
ranks, the opposition, to whom his prominent and uncompro- 
mising course had rendered him less acceptable, succeeded in 
electing a gentleman, then a professed friend, but since, a de- 
cided opponent of Gen. Jackson and his measures. Mr. Polk's 
defeat produced no change in his course. He remained faithful 
to his pai-ty, and assiduous in the performance of his arduous 
duties. In December, 1835, he was elected Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and chosen again at the extra session 
in September, 1837, after an animated contest. The duties of 
this difficult situation, it is now conceded, he discharged with 
rare fidelity and fairness. In the beginning unusual difficulties 
were thrown in his way by an animosity which was sometimes 
carried to an extent that called forth general animadversion. 
During the first session in which he presided, more appeals were 
taken from his decision than had occurred in the whole period 
since the origin of the government; but he was uniformly sus- 
tained by the House and by many of his political adversaries. 
Strangers of all parties who visited Washington were struck 
with the dignity, promptitude and impartiality with which he 
presided over the deliberations of the House. Notwithstanding 
the violence with which he had been assailed. Congress passed, 
at the close of the session in 1837, an unanimous vote of thanks 
to its presiding officer, from whom it separated with the kindest 
feelings; and no man could enjoy its confidence and friendship 
in a higher degree. His calmness and good temper allayed the 
violence of opposition, in a station for which his quickness, 
coolness and sagacity eminently qualified him." 

The ensuing session, however, unfortunately presented a dif- 
ferent state of feeling on the part of Mr. Polk's opponents. 
Again elevated to the high position of Speaker, his superior capa- 
bilities for the station were put to the severest test ; but, not- 
withstanding every attempt to throw his prudence and courtesy 
from their balance, he sustained himself with unfaltering deci- 
sion and admirable equanimity of temper. It was during this 
Congress that the exciting case of the Mississippi election was 
under an angry and extended discussion, at the close of which 
he was called upon to give his casting vote. It was upon the 



14 LIFE OF 

honest exercise of this duty that Mr. Clay, then a member of 
the Senate, but being present upon the floor of the House, uttered 
the profane exclamation which has made the event memorable, 
while it deservedly detracted much from the character of the 
senator in the opinion of all virtuous minds. 

The exasperation of the opposition was more notably mani- 
fested at the close of the session, and contrasted to the disad- 
vantage of that party with the action of the House at the con- 
clusion of the session of 1837. Then, as we have seen, he 
received an unanimous vote of thanks, a custom which we believe 
was never before opposed until at the close of the last session, 
when he had a seat in Congress. On the usual motion being 
made, it was unexpectedly met by a violent party speech, from 
gentlemen who, while they had to admit that the speaker had 
discharged his duty with dignity and ability, yet, if our recollec- 
tion bears us out correctly, assigned as a reason for their vindic- 
tive opposition, that as Mr. Polk was about to become a candidate 
for the gubernatorial office of Tennessee, it would be giving 
their sanction to his pretensions, as it would afford him "politi- 
cal capital to trade upon !" A singular reason, surely, for an 
undignified and unusual act! Without this "capital" from his 
opponents in Congress Mr. Polk returned home, and became the 
Democratic candidate for the office of governor. The chances, 
to all appearances, were against him, conceding that the results 
of the late elections in Tennessee exhibited the true condition 
of the two parties, as divided solely upon principles. It will be 
remembered that in the presidential election of 1836, a portion 
of the Democratic party' supported Judge White in opposition 
to Mr. Van Buren. Tennessee gave her vote to her own citizen, 
White's majority being 9,842. The next year, at the election 
for governor. Cannon, the Whig candidate, obtained a majority 
of 19,873 over Armstrong, Democrat. To succeed, then, Mr. 
Polk would have to break down a majority of nearly 20,000 
votes, and that, too, against the same gentleman who received 
his office through that immense majority but two years before. 
The indomitable energy and untiring industry of Mr. Polk, 
however, successfully performed this Herculean task, and he 
came off victor in 1839 with a majority of 2,669, making a Demo- 
cratic gain in the State of something over 22,000 votes. In doing 
this, he abandoned none of his political principles, but maintained 
what was called his "ultraism" and " radicalism" with the same 



JAMES K. rOLK. 15 

uucomproinising sternness that distinguished him while holding 
a seat in Congress. 

In 1840, Tennessee gave her vote to Harrison, ho receiving 
12,102 majority over Mr. Van Buren. The old defection pro- 
duced by Judge White in 1836, had not entirely subsided, par- 
ticularly in relation to Mr. Van Buren. In the following year 
Mr. Polk was again the candidate for Governor, but was defeated 
by Mr. Jones, one of the most popular Whigs in the State, not, 
however, without cutting down the 12,000 Whig majority for 
Harrison to 3,234. In 1843, he was a second time the candi- 
date in opposition to Jones, losing his election by somewhere 
about the same relative vote as in 1841. 

But with Polk against Clay, no one can doubt the result in 
Tennessee in 1844. The Whig nominee will have to encounter 
an opposition in that State to which he will be obliged to suc- 
cumb. The elements of Harrison's success in 1840 cannot be 
brought into operation in any shape. The issue in every sense 
will be a new one. The ghost of that " bargainP^ by which Mr. 
Adams was made President, will meet Mr. Clay at every step, 
and retribution will be demanded for that act by which Andrew 
Jackson was made to stand aside, for one whom this same Mr. 
Clay had taught the whole West to hate. Yes, bitterly to hate, 
for attempting to barter the navigation of the Mississippi to Great 
Britain ; for giving Texas to Spain : for " an unfeeling policy, 
which would crimson our fresh fields with the blood of our border 
brethren, and light the midnight forest with the flames of their 
dwellings." These are but a few of the charges made against 
Mr. Adams by Mr. Clay himself — and can the West forget ? 
Can Tennessee forget the memorable events of 1824, by which, 
with all these charges unrefuted, Andrew Jackson was defrauded 
of his election through the vindictive feelings of the present 
Whig candidate, who by this one deed, abandoned his principles, 
deceived Ohio, betrayed Kentucky, and bartered away the whole 
West for the Secretaryship, to a man whom he had denounced 
as wanting in all that makes up the character of a patriot, a 
statesman and a man? Strangely shall we be mistaken if these 
things be forgotten — sadly shall we be disappointed if the hand 
of justice do not fall where its blow is so richly deserved. 

In concluding this brief sketch of the history of Mr. Polk, 
we are at length brought to the position in which he now stands 
before the people of these United States, the late National Con- 



16 Lii 1^ ^>f 

vention having named him as the Democratic Candidate for the 
Presidency, with a unanimity as honorable to him as it is the 
presage of a success, which will give a new impetus to those 
great principles of free government, for the integrity and perpe- 
tuity of which the Republican party have so long contended. 
The opinions of our candidate have never been concealed. 
Free and fearless, he has ever thrown himself upon the clear 
and deep stream of Truth, in his stern honesty, unknowing how 
to trim his sails but to meet the safe breeze of principle. 

"Few public men have pursued a firmer or more consistent 
course than Mr. Polk. Upon several emergencies, when the 
current of popular opinion threatened to overwhelm him, he has 
sternly adhered to the convictions of duty, preferring to sink 
with his principles rather than rise by their abandonment. This, 
we have noticed, was the case after his bank report in 183S, and 
he incurred the same hazard when, in 1835, he avowed his un- 
alterable purpose not to separate from the democratic party in 
the presidential election. On each of these occasions the popu- 
lar excitement in his district would have appalled and driven 
back a timid and time-serving politician. Had he been governed 
by selfish motives; had he consulted his own personal ease and 
looked to his re-election alone; had he, in short, regarded 
success more than principle, he would have yielded his own 
convictions to the indications, not to be mistaken, of popular 
opinion. But he took counsel of nobler sentiments, and with a 
fearlessness characteristic of his whole public course, avowed 
and persisted in his well-matured determinations. Nothing can 
be more false than the charge of subserviency which has been 
brought against him, in common with the prominent supporters 
of the administration of General Jackson. It is true that, des- 
pising the cant of no party, which has ever been the pretext of 
selfish and treacherous politicians, and convinced that in a 
popular government nothing can be accomplished by isolated 
action, he has always acted with his party, as far as principle 
would justify. Upon most of the prominent measures of the 
administration, however, his opinions were not only generally 
known, but he had actually spoken or voted before the accession 
of General Jackson to power. 

Mr. Polk is a ready debater, with a style and manner forcible 
and impressive. In discussion he has been always distinguished 
by great courtesy, never having been known to indulge in often- 



■lAMfciS K. POLK. 17 

sive personality, which, considering the prominence of his course 
and the ardor of his convictions, is no small merit. As a proof 
of his exemplary assiduity, he is said never to have missed a 
division while occupying a seat on the floor of the House, his 
name being found upon every list of the yeas and nays. His ambi- 
tion was to be a useful member as well as a prominent actor, and 
accordingly he always performed more than a full share of the 
active business of legislation. In person he is of middle stature, 
with a full, angular brow, and a quick and penetrating eye. The 
expression of his countenance is grave, but its serious cast is 
often relieved by a peculiarly pleasant smile, indicative of the 
amenity of his disposition. The amiable character of his private 
life, which has ever been upright and pure, secures to him the 
esteem and friendship of all who have the advantage of his 
acquaintance." 



LIFE 

OP THE 

HON. GEORGE M. DALLAS 



George Mifflin Dallas was born in the city of Philadel- 
phia on the lOth of July, 1792. He is the elder son of Alex- 
ander James Dallas, one of the most accomplished advocates and 
distinguished statesmen that have adorned the legal profession 
of the United States, or sustained, in important posts of public 
trust, the principles and policy of the republican party. He 
received the rudiments of his education at a school in German- 
town, and afterward at the Friends' Academy in Philadelphia. 
At the age of fourteen he was entered in Princeton College, and 
continued there until 1810, when he was graduated with the 
highest honors of his class. 

On leaving college, Mr. Dallas commenced the law, in the 
oflFice of his father at Philadelphia; and although, in the inter- 
vals of that severe study, the more attractive forms of literature 
and poetry were not unfrequently cultivated, he yet persevered 
with unceasing application in making himself a thorough master 
of the great principles of the profession of which he has since 
been so distinguished a member. He was admitted to the bar 
in 1813. Soon after the declaration of war with England he had 
enrolled himself in a volunteer corps ; and when, in the year 
1813, Mr. Gallatin was appointed by President Madison a mem- 
ber of the commission that repaired to St. Petersburg for the 
purpose of negotiating a peace, under the mediativ>n of the Em- 
peror Alexander, he accompanied that minister as his private 
and confidential secretary. 

In August, 1814, Mr. Dallas returned to the United States, 
bearing the despatches from the American commissioners, then 
holding their sessions at Ghent, which announced the prospects 
little favorable to a speedy peace that are known to have re- 
sulted from the earlier conferences with the British envoys. On 
his arrival he found his father transferred from the bar of Phila- 
delphia to the head of the Treasury Department, a post re- 
quiring, in the complicated state of the finances, and amid the 
pressing exigencies of the war, all the resources of judgment 



LIFE OF GF.ORCiE M. DALLAS, 19 

and talent for which he had been already distinguished, but 
which he was now destined to display through a brilliant admin- 
istration of two years, under circumstances and in a manner that 
secured for him a yet larger share of the applause and confidence 
of the people of the United States. His son remained with him 
for a time at Washington, to assist him in the arduous duties of 
the treasury, and then returned to Philadelphia to resume, or 
rather to commence the actual practice of his profession, an 
event that was almost immediately followed by his marriage with 
an accomplished lady, the daughter of Mr. Nicklin, an eminent 
merchant of that city. 

The death of his father, which occurred shortly after he re- 
tired from the administration of the Treasury Department, took 
from Mr. Dallas, in the outset of his career at the bar, not 
merely the benefit of professional assistance seldom equalled, 
but those kind and endearing associations which could have 
grown up only in intercourse with one whose genius was not 
more brilliant than his affections were warm. 

It is scarcely necessary to remark that the exigencies of a 
legal life could not withdraw Mr. Dallas from the deepest inter- 
est in political topics. Deriving from the conduct and counsels 
of his father, and from the associations of his earliest youth, as 
well as those of later years, a strong attachment to the principles 
and views of the Democratic party, he had never failed to co- 
operate with his fellow citizens in the measures which were cal- 
culated to advance them. The more tranquil administration of 
Mr. Monroe, succeeding to the fierce political conflicts which 
existed during the war with Engla'^d, did not present many 
questions that rallied party controversies on national affairs ; but 
the election of Gov. Heister in Pennsylvania had brought the 
Federal party into power in that State, after a long period of 
Democratic ascendency, and no one embarked with more zeal 
than Mr. Dallas in endeavoring to effect the restoration of the 
policy which he believed to be essential to a sound and just ad- 
ministration of the affairs of the commonwealth. These efforts 
resulted in the triumphant re-election of Governor Schultze, the 
candidate of the Democratic party. 

But while unanimity, followed by success, thus attended the 
course of his political associates in the State, the elements of 
division among the Democracy of the Union began to be appa- 
rent in regard to the individual who was to succeed Mr. Monroe. 



20 I-IFE OF 

Early personal associations, as well as a just appreciation of his 
distinguished talents, had led Mr. Dallas to unite with a large 
portion of his political friends in Pennsylvania in a desire that 
the vote of the State should be given to Mr. Calhoun ; and the 
success with which that statesman had conducted the adminis- 
tration of the War Department for the eight previous years 
seemed to give a certain pledge, notwithstanding his comparative 
youth, of the ability he would display in any executive office 
to which the voice of his countrymen should call him. When, 
however, the general sentiment of the republican party through- 
out the Union expressed a desire to confer on the venerable 
patriot who had so long and so faithfully maintained their prin- 
ciples in various posts of civil trust, and so brilliantly augmented 
the glory of his country in the field of battle, Mr. Dallas, with 
sentiments towards General Jackson in which the friends of Mr. 
Calhoun in Pennsylvania at once participated, took the lead in 
suggesting that the younger candidate should be presented to 
the American people for the second office, while the united and 
harmonious voice of the Democratic party should name General 
Jackson for the presidential chair. In every measure that re- 
sulted from this determination Mr. Dallas bore a prominent part; 
the eloquent address in which the Democratic convention of the 
State presented their reasons for the course they had adopted, 
is generally understood to have proceeded from his pen ; and 
when, in November, 1824, the unusually large majority of more 
than thirty thousand Democratic votes showed the enthusiastic 
feeling of the people of the State, there were few among them 
whose zeal had been more honorably and actively displayed 
than his in producing that gratifying result. 

The choice of the House of Representatives having given the 
Presidency to Mr. Adams, the succeeding four years only con- 
tributed to create the yet stronger concentration of public opin- 
ion in favor of General Jackson; and when he obtained, in 1828, 
the suffrages of fifteen States, the majority in Pennsylvania had 
increased beyond fifty thousand. It was during this interval 
that Mr. Dallas received from the people of his native city an 
honorable mark of their confidence by an election to the mayor- 
alty, an office which for many years past, in consequence of the 
usual ascendency of the Federal party, has been seldom bestowed 
upon a person of his political opinions. 

At length, in the year 1831, a vacancy having occurred in the 



GEORGE M. DALLAS. 21 

representation from Pennsylvania in the Senate of the United 
States, the Legislature selected Mr. Dallas to fill that honorable 
post. Thus, in entering for the first time a legislative body, he 
found himself in the highest and most important assembly that 
exists under the provisions of the American Constitution. A 
new field was given to his talents as a statesman and an orator. 
Having at the bar of Philadelphia few equals in forensic elo- 
quence, and being perhaps without a rival, certainly without a 
superior, at home, on any occasion of public and especially polit- 
ical discussion, he was now required to match himself with men 
trained by exercise as well as possessed of distinguished ability, 
in a scene which forbade the logical precision of a court, and yet 
could scarcely call forth or permit the animated current of spon- 
taneous declamation so often successfully indulged in the lesser 
assemblages of his fellow citizens. His speeches in the Senate 
of the United States, throughout the period that he remained 
there, were heard with attention that gave evidence of his com- 
plete success. Those that have been more carefully reported 
display, on a variety of topics, striking political views, and they 
abound with passages of animated eloquence. The most inter- 
esting subject of general discussion was that which made the 
winters of 1832 and 1833 more memorable in our legislative 
history than any period since the war with England. The prin- 
ciples on which a revision of the tariff of duties was to be made 
gave rise, in the former session, to long and warm debates, which 
in the following one led to those that involved the serious ques- 
tion of a right of one or more of the States to nullify a law 
making such revision on principles that it might regard as con- 
trary to the provisions of the constitution. On both occasions 
Mr. Dallas took part in these debates. On the former, after an 
eloquent picture of the situation and resources of the United 
States, he touched, with a powerful but friendly spirit, the va- 
rious causes to which, independently of the policy of protection 
generally advocated by the northern statesmen, might be im- 
puted the distresses that were supposed peculiarly to affect and 
injure the agriculture of the South. Following then the course 
of general opinion, as well as the declared policy of Pennsylva- 
nia, as evinced in the repeated votes of her Legislature, he pre- 
sented, in a manner not often surpassed in force and clearness 
by those who have treated the matter in the same light, the views 
then entertained on the best mode of adjusting the delicate ques- 



22 KIFE OF 

tion so as to save the South from any real injury, and yet pre- 
serve from destruction the labor and pursuits of the Northern 
and Middle States. When the heightened excitement of the 
following year produced that gloomy epoch in our fraternal an- 
nals, which was marked by serious discussions on the extent of 
force that the general government might exert upon the opposing 
laws of the States, and the consequent actions of her authorities 
and people, he sustained that power in the Union which he be- 
lieved to be essential to its preservation, and warranted by the 
spirit and terms of the contract, but deprecated, in so doing, 
every measure not clearly necessary for those objects. On all 
questions appearing to involve any differences of policy or in- 
terest among the States, Mr. Dallas appears uniformly to have 
leaned to that course which he deemed most calculated, even at 
some sacrifice, to preserve the harmony of the whole. 

On the Sd of March, 1833, the term expired for which he had 
been elected to the Senate. At his own request, his name was 
withheld from the legislature as a candidate for re-election. He 
was then selected by Governor Wolf as the Attorney General 
of his native State, and he continued to hold it with increasing 
reputation, and with a degree of approbation and confidence on 
the part of the whole community never exceeded, nor often 
equalled, until the change in the executive administration of the 
State, by the electiofl of Governor Ritner, induced him to with- 
draw. 

Mr. Dallas soon perceived the secret operations that ripened 
to so fatal a result, by which the Bank of the United States was 
imposed, by corrupt and dishonest means, on the people of the 
United States, and especially of Pennsylvania, as a State institu- 
tion. He lent the aid of his influence and talents to resist it 
\vhile he remained at Harrisburg, and on his return to Philadel- 
phia, awakened his Democratic brethren, in public discussions, 
to a full sense of the danger whose near approach had been care- 
fully concealed. The history of that disastrous measure, and the 
means by which its success was achieved, if not yet developed 
in all their details, are yet generally known. In consequence of 
it, the State was plunged into the long train of disasters from 
which its citizens have not yet been able to extricate themselves, 
and of which the effects, extending far beyond their immediate 
objects, have produced the most deplorable results on the busi- 
ness, prosperity, and even character of the American people. 



GKORGE M. DALLAS. 23 

Even after the shackles had been fixed, Mr. Dallas was among 
those who sought to relieve the community from eo fatal a thral- 
dom. Taking advantage of the approaching convention, when 
the people of the State were to meet with every attribute of ori- 
ginal sovereignty not restrained by the Constitution of the United 
States, and of which the assemblage was promulgated by the vote 
of the people before the act in question was passed, he called to 
the consideration of the inhabitants of the State, in an able and 
eloquent letter, the propriety of examining into the frauds that 
had been perpetrated, and relieving the commonwealth, by an 
edict of that body, from all fraudulent invasions of its rights, 
due care being taken to protect and indemnify individuals con-' 
cerned in the institution from any pecuniary loss. 

The political history of the following winter was marked by 
the election of Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency, and one of the 
earliest of his acts was to oft'er to Mr. Dallas the post of envoy 
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Russia. In that 
country he remained till October, 1839. The only portion of 
his official correspondence while there that has been made public, 
is his discussion with Count Nesselrode, relative to the territo- 
ries and commercial intercourse of the two nations on the coast 
of the Pacific Ocean. It developes several points connected with 
the rights of the respective governments on those shores, pre- 
sented with great clearness and interest, and destined, no doubt, 
at a day not very distant, to become subjects of still more gene- 
ral and minute examination. The claims and rights of the Ameri- 
cans are sustained with great ability and spirit. 

Since Mr. Dallas' return from Russia, he has devoted himself 
exclusively to the practice of his profession ; and though it is gen- 
erally understood, that not long after that event, a seat in his 
cabinet was tendered to him by Mr. Van Buren, nevertheless, he 
desired to remain in private life. That he will be long permitted 
to do so, we cannot think. He now stands before his country- 
men as a candidate for the second office within their gift. The 
unanimous voice of the Convention which nominated him, and 
the response which it receives from all sections of the country, 
augurs well for his triumph, and the success of those principles 
with which he has been so long identified. To the confidence 
reposed in him, founded in his adherence, from earliest youth, to 
the accepted doctrines of the republican party on every great 
national question, he adds a brilliancy of genius, a spotless per- 



24 APPENDIX. 

sonal life, and qualities so calculated to win the afiection and 
regard of all with whom he is called into association, that his 
native State, placing him as she does in the highest class of her 
favorite sons, will scarcely consent that the riper years of his 
life shall be withdrawn altogether from her service, and that of 
the people of the United States. Adorning and filling, as he 
would with eminent distinction, the most exalted offices that his 
fellow-citizens can bestow, their hope is certainly as general as 
it is reasonable and just, that none of the accidents which hang 
upon all human footsteps may withhold him from the honorable 
discharge of those public trusts, which are conferred by the 
willing suftVages of a free people, upon those among them who 
have been found to be the most deserving-. 



APPENDIX. 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES 



RESOLUTIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. 

BALTIMORE, MAY, 1844. 

Resolved, That the American Democracy place their trust not 
in factitious symbols, not in displays and appeals insulting to 
the judgments and subversive of the intellect of the people, but 
in a clear reliance upon the intelligence, the patriotism, and the 
discriminating justice of the American masses. 

Resolved, That we regard this as a distinctive feature of our 
political creed, which we are proud to maintain before the world 
as the great moral element in a form of government springing 
from, and upheld by, the popular will ; and we contrast it with 
the creed and practice of Federalism, under whatever jiame or 
form, which seeks to palsy the will of the constituent, and which 
conceives no imposture too monstrous for the popular credulity. 

Resolved, therefore. That, entertaining these views, the Demo- 
cratic party of this Union, through their delegates assembled in 
a general convention of the States, coming together in a spirit of 
concord, of devotion to the doctrines and faith of a free repre- 
sentative government, and appealing to their fellow-citizens for 
the rectitude of their intentions, renew and re-assert before the 



PEMOCRATIG PRINCIPLES. 25 

American people, the declaration of principles avowed by them, 
when on a former occasion, in general convention, they presented 
their candidates for the popular suflfrages : 

1. That the Federal Government is one of limited powers, 
derived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power 
shown therein ought to be strictly construed by all the depart- 
ments and agents of the Government, and that it is inexpedient 
and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional power. 

2. That the Constitution does not confer upon the General 
Government the power to commence and carry on a general sys- 
tem of internal improvements. 

3. That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the 
Federal Government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts 
of the several States, contracted for local internal improvements, 
or other State purposes ; nor would such assumption be just and 
expedieni! 

4. That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Govern- 
ment to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, 
or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another 
portion of our common country ; that every citizen and every 
section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon an 
equality of rights and privileges, and to complete any ample 
protection of persons and property from domestic violence or 
foreign aggression. 

5. That it is the duty of every branch of the Government to 
enforce and practise the most rigid economy in conducting our 
public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than 
is required to defray the necessary expenses of the Government. 

6. That Congress has no power to charter a National 13ank ; 
that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the 
best interests of the country, dangerous to our republican insti- 
tutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place 
the business of the country within the control of a concentrated 
money power, and above the laws aad the will of the people. 

7. That Congress has no power under the Constitution to 
interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several 
States, and that such States are the sole and proper judges of 
every thing appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by 
the Constitution; that all efforts of the Abolitionists or others, 
made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, 
or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to 

4 



26 APPENDIX. 

lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that 
all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the hap- 
piness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanency 
of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to 
our political institutions. 

8. That the separation of the moneys of the Government from 
banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds 
of the Government and the rights of the people. 

9. That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the 
Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, 
which make ours the land of liberty, and the asylum of the op- 
pressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in 
the Democratic faith; and every attempt to abridge the present 
privilege of becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us, 
ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien 
and sedition laws from our statute book. 

Resolved, That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be 
sacredly applied to the national objects specified in the Consti- 
tution ; and that we are opposed to the law lately adopted, and 
to any law, for the distribution of such proceeds among the 
States, as alike inexpedient in policy and repugnant to the Con- 
stitution. 

Resolved, That we are decidedly opposed to taking from the 
President the qualified veto power by which he is enabled, under 
restrictions and responsibilities, amply sufficient to guard the 
public interest, to suspend the passage of a bill whose merits 
cannot secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, until the judgment of the people can 
be obtained thereon, and which has thrice saved the American 
people from the corrupt and tyrannical domination of the Bank 
of the United States. 

Resolved, That our title to the whole of the Territory of Ore- 
gon is clear and unquestionable ; that no portibn of the same 
ought to be ceded to England or any other power; and the re- 
occupation of Oregon, and the re-annexation of Texas, at the 
earliest practicable period, are great American measures, which 
this convention recommends to the cordial support of the De- 
mocracy of the Union. 

Resolved, That this convention hereby presents to the people 
of the United States James K. Polk, of Tennessee, as the can- 
didate of the Democratic party, for the office of President, and 



POLK ON REMOVAL OF DEPOSITES. 27 

George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, as the candidate of the 
Democratic party, for the office of Vice President of the United 
States. 

Resolved, That this convention hold in the highest estimation 
and regard their illustrious fellow citizen, Martin Van Buren of 
New York; that we cherish the most grateful and abiding sense 
of the ability, integrity, and firmness with which he discharged 
the duties of the high office of President of the United States, 
and especially of the inflexible fidelity with which he maintained 
the true doctrines of the Constitution, and the measures of the 
Democratic party, during his trying and nobly arduous adminis- 
tration; that in the memorable struggle of 1840, he fell a martyr 
to the great principles of which he was the worthy representa- 
tive, and revere him as such ; and that we hereby tender to him, 
in his honorable retirement, the assurance of the deeply seated 
confidence, affection, and respect of the American Democracy. 



MR. POLK'S SPEECH 

ON THE 

FIEMOVAL OF THE DEFOSITES. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

December oOlh, 1833, and January Gth, 1S34, 
" The gentleman from South Carolina assumes that the Presi- 
dent, in reference to the removal of the Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, has acted as a usurper and a tyrant ; he did not, however, 
furnish us the facts on which he grounds the accusation, but argued 
upon them as granted. In unmeasured terms, he accused the 
President of tyranny, usurpation, and injustice, and seemed to 
be as much in a rage with him as tlie Dutch bully was with the 
lottery wheel. Like the Dutchman, he seemed ready to break 
every thing into smashes, and with about as much reason ; — for 
if, in some capricious turn of fortune's wheel, the gentleman 
and his friends had obtained a prize, he would have pronounced 
it ' as fair a thing as ever was.' It was easy to call hard names, 
but the President had too long and too faithfully served his 
country to be within the reach of such assaults. But the Presi- 
dent is a usurper and a tyrant, and the Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, we are assured, is not responsible to the President, and is 
independent of him. Now, I affirm, said Mr. P., that the Se- 



28 APPENDIX. 

cretary of the Treasury is not independent of the President; 
and, furthermore, that if Congress should undertake to render 
him so, by express law, tlie}- would exceed their power, and 
their act would be void. Yes, sir, I affirm that the Secretary of 
the Treasury is not independent. The Secretary is appointed 
by the Executive authority of the country. I beg pardon of the 
House for entering into an argument to prove what has been ac- 
quiesced in for forty years— that the Secretary of the Treasury 
is dependent upon the President. Do gentlemen mean to say 
that the President has not the power to remove the Secretary of 
the Treasury from office ? The Constitution, on this point, says: 
' The President shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors or other public 
ministers, &c., and all other officers of the United States, whose 
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which 
shall be established by law. But the Congress may, by law, vest 
the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in 
the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of De- 
partment.' The heads of Department were not inferior officers, 
and Congress had no right to appoint them ; Congress had no 
right to appoint any officer, and, further, they had no right to 
invest themselves with the power of appointing any officer. By 
what tenure does the Secretary of the Treasury hold his office? 
Although there was no express power given in the Constitution 
for the removal of that officer, yet it was evident that he held 
the office ' durante bene placito'' — during the pleasure of the 
President. The Judges of the Supreme Court hold their office 
by a different tenure, — during good behavior, and from that ex- 
press provision he derived an argument that the Secretary of the 
Treasury did not hold by that tenure, but at the pleasure of the 
President. The tenure of the President and Vice President was 
expressly settled by the Constitution — they hold for a term of 
years. But other officers hold during pleasure, — so it was under- 
stood by the framers of the Constitution, and so it has been un- 
derstood ever since. The appointing power is the Executive 
power, and the appointing power must necessarily be the remov- 
ing power. If the one branch had the power of appointment and 
another of removal, endless confusion would be produced in the 
Government. The President ' shall take care that the laws be 
faithfully executed ;' can he do this by authorizing each officer 
to execute the law according to his own understandins; ? In that 



POLK ON REMOVAL 07 DEPOSITES. 29 

case there would be no uniformity or consistency in the action 
of the Government. One Secretary would execute the embargo 
law, but another would say that in his conscience, he believed 
the law to be unconstitutional, and therefore he was not bound to 
enforce it. Was it contemplated that each of the inferior officers 
should construe the law for himself .? Did the Constitution mean, 
as had been elsewhere suggested, merely to empower the Presi- 
dent to put down resistance to the laws. Unquestionably this 
was one of his duties. But the President, I atfirm, cannot see 
that the laws are faithfully executed, except as he understood 
them, and it was necessary for him to remove those assistants 
whose construction of the law differed from his own, and to put 
others in their places. Else, how had it happened, upon the 
accession of each new President, that a new cabinet was ap- 
pointed. Else, how in the great political revolution of 1801, 
could the new President have brought into office a cabinet of his 
own ; and, how, without a new cabinet, would he have provided 
for the faithful execution of the laws ? Sir, said Mr. Polk, these 
are questions so long settled, that I fear I weary the House by 
referring to them. How happens it that the President is au- 
thorized to require the opinion of his cabinet in writing, if he 
has not a supervising power over them? The power of removal 
is left with the President, because he is the Chief Executive, and 
is responsible to the country for the faithful execution of the 
laws. 

" If he had succeeded in making himself understood, he had 
shown, that the exercise of the power by the Secretary of the 
Treasury was only the exercise of an ordinary and usual power. 
The President had also exercised the usual and ordinary power; 
he had removed the Secretary of the Treasury for refusing to 
act. But he besfged pardon, if the argument of the member 
from South Carolina was good. Mr. Duane was still Secretary ; 
Mr. Taney had no authority at all. He, however, would con- 
tend, that Mr. D. was removed by the exercise of power that the 
President possessed, that this removal was a matter of right, de- 
volving upon the President, he having refused to act in confor- 
mity to his directions. Upon his removal, Mr. Taney is ap- 
pointed ; the removal is made by him, or by his order, and yet it 
was asked by the member from South Carolina (Mr. McDuffie), 
' Was it the Secretary who did this act ? No ; it was the act 
of a tvrant, forsooth, and the Secretary had no more agency in 



so APPENDIX. 

it tlian the iron pen with which the order was written.' But he 
(Mr. P.) would state, that it was fortunate for the country — 
most fortunate for the individual himself, that his cliaracter 
stood too high to require any thing to be added by him, or which 
would render it necessary to say more, than that the present 
Secretary was not the person to be rendered the mere blind in- 
strument of any man, be he whom he might. He was not such 
a blind instrument as was charged in this transaction. He could 
state, as he was authorized to do, that the opinions given by him, 
and upon which he had acted in the removal, were similar to 
those given by him, in writing, in the month of March previous, 
when he was Attorney General, when consulted upon the subject 
as a Cabinet minister. Well, then, was he to be blamed, and 
thus stigmatized, for having honestly entertained the opinion that 
the deposites ought to be removed — for removing them — when 
upon the refusal ofMr, Duane, and his dismissal, that he, ap- 
pointed his successor, should do so ? Yet for this removal a 
question upon which his mind had been long made up — he was 
• the miserable instrument of tyranny !' — he was to be stigma- 
tized as ' one of those miserable sycophants who literally crawled 
in their own slime, to the foot-stool of Executive favor.' 

"But it was objected, in the argument of the gentleman from 
South Carolina, that to withdraw the public deposites from the 
bank of the United States, and to place them in the State banks, 
was a union of the purse and the sword — this was the old argu- 
ment to which he adverted the other day, brought up in the de- 
bate, which occurred in the Congress of 1789, upon the organiza- 
tion of the Executive departments — an argument which had 
then been successfully met by Mr. Madison and other distin- 
guished patriots, who were members of the Congress at that pe- 
riod. But it was said by the gentleman, that the President had 
seized upon the public moneys — and we were asked where was 
the public treasure ? Now it is well known that the President 
has no more control over the public money in deposits in State 
banks than he had while they were in deposite in the United 
States bank. By the Constitution no money can be drawn from 
the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law. 
The President could not, therefore, if he would, any more use a 
dollar now, than he could before the deposites were removed. 
This is the mere phantom of an excited mind or of a disordered 
imagination. The gentleman imagines great danger from the 



POLK ON REMOVAL OF DEPOSITES. 31 

Executive influence over the State banks, in which the public 
moneys may be deposited — and yet did not the same power exist 
in the President of the United States, from tlie organization of 
tlie Government, up to the close of Mr. Monroe's administration; 
and were any such dangerous consequences ever felt as the gen- 
tleman seems now to imagine ? During the existence of the old 
bank charter, the Executive Department of the Government 
directed at will, the place of public deposite for the public mo- 
neys, and the places of deposite were changed at pleasure during 
the administration of Mr. Monroe, and that of all his predeces- 
sors. Since the present bank was chartered, the same power was 
claimed and repeatedly exercised by Mr. Crawford, as abundantly 
shown the other day from the documentary history of the times. 
Yet, the dangerous consequences now apprehended, were never 
found to flow from the exercise of that power. But the gentle- 
man has informed us that every one knows that the President of 
a State bank, which is made a public depository, will be con- 
trolled by the Federal Executive ; that every one knows that the 
President of a bank controls and governs the debtors to that 
bank; that the city debtors to the bank control the country 
dealers who are indebted to them, and the country dealers con- 
trol their country debtors. The chain, he says, is a very short 
one by which the whole country indebted directly, or indirectly, 
to a State bank, which is a place of pifblic deposite, will be con- 
trolled by the Executive authority here. This is, indeed, a fan- 
ciful picture; but did not the gentleman reflect, that according 
to his own argument, the same power which he deprecates in the 
State banks, in fact exists to a much greater extent in the Bank 
of the United States ? The Bank of the United States possesses 
a great central power, controlling, by the will of a single man, 
all its ramifications and branches in every portion of the Union ; 
it is, too, an irresponsible power, which can act by its diffierent 
branches in perfect concert, in different portions of the Union 
at the same moment. Whereas the State Banks have no such 
central power to control or direct their concerted movements. 
In fact the State Banks, from the necessary and inevitable colli- 
sion of their interests, must counteract and control the move- 
ments of each other, even if they were disposed to become the 
prostituted instruments of political party. The President of the 
United States is responsible to the people ; the Bank of the 
United States acknowledges no responsibility either to the Go- 



32 APPExNDlX. 

vernment or to the people; but he utterly denied that the State 
Banks either had been, or could be, the instruments of party. 
The real danger to be apprehended, was from the Bank of the 
United States ; which, if the argument of the gentleman from 
South Carolina be true, was enabled to control all who were 
either directly or indirectly indebted to it. 

•' The gentleman from South Carolina gave us another reason 
why the public deposites should not be removed from the Bank 
of the United States. He had stated that the Government of 
the United States, being the owner of one-fifth of the stock of 
the United States Bank, would lose 140,000 dollars yearly by 
the withdrawal of the deposites. He supposed he meant by the 
diminution of the Government, dividends derived from the use 
of the deposites by the Bank. He should not stop to inquire 
upon what data the gentleman had this information, but for the 
sake of the argument would take it to be true, as he had slated it. 
It then, would, in fact lose 8140,000 per annum by this diminu- 
tion of its dividend, derivable from the use of the public depo- 
sites, by the Bank, then we have a data by which to estimate 
the value of the renewal of the bank charter for 20 years. If 
the Government would lose $140,000 for a single year, its loss 
for a period of 20 years would be 2,800,000 dollars. The Go- 
vernment owning but one-fifth of the stock, the whole loss to 
the Bank would be five times that amount, or fourteen millions of 
dollars. Fourteen millions then, according to the argument, is 
the value of the renewal of the Bank charter for twenty years 
arising from the public deposites alone, and independent of the 
value of the exclusive privileges of banking conferred by the 
charter, and yet the gentleman from South Carolina, two years 
ago, sustained by his vote the previous question, twice in the 
same day, to confer upon the present stockholders the renewal 
of the present charter, for a period of 20 years for a honus of 
three millions ; he did this, too, when other capitalists, by their 
memorials before Congress, oftered a much larger honus for simi- 
lar privileges. The effects of making deposites in the State 
Banks will be, (said Mr. P.) that the profits will not go, as they 
now do, into the pockets of foreigners, but will remain in the 
country for the benefit of our own citizens. It is well known 
that a large amount of Bank stock is owned abroad, and a large 
amount in specie is annually transported from the country. 

" Mr. P. said he feared he should fatigue the House, as he 



POLK ON UEMOVAL OF DEPOSITED. 33 

knew he had himself, and must therefore close his remarks. 
We are called on, Mr. Speaker, to decide a question of no or- 
dinary import. The Bank of the United States has set itself 
up as a great irresponsible rival power of the Government. It 
assumes to regulate the finances of the country, and to control 
the whole policy of government in the regulation of the finan 
cial concerns of the country: it assumes to dictate to the coun- 
try, in etVect, how its Government shall be administered : and 
although it has used the public moneys entrusted to its hands, 
for safe keeping, for purposes of political corruption, it comes 
here to demand, as a matter of right, that the public treasure 
shall be restored to it — it has wasted the public money: it has 
thrown itself into the arena of politics, and employed its corpo- 
rate wealth, corruptly to control elections : it has been a faithless 
fiscal agent, in paying out the public moneys, when demanded for 
the public service: it has violated its charter, by delegating to 
secret committees, powers, which of right can only be exercised 
by the board of directors ; it refused to submit its affairs to the 
scrutiny of impartial investigation and truth, under the heaviest 
charges of corruption and mal-practices made against it, and 
boldly demands at the hands of the representatives of the peo- 
ple, that it be permitted to continue in the use of the public 
funds. — It is a great aristocracy of money, which in all ages of 
the world has allied itself with the enemies of liberty. Gentle- 
men must not deceive themselves; the present is in substance 
and in fact, the question of recharter or no recharter. The 
question is in fiict, whether we shall have the Republic, without 
the Bank, or the Bank without the Republic. It has done more, 
sir, in its manifesto officially issued by its board; it has under- 
taken to lecture the representatives of the people, on political 
economy, and to dodrinate (if I may be permitted to use the 
term,) Congress, in regard to the constitutional powers of the 
different departments of Government. It assumes with the gen- 
tleman from South Carolina, that the President is a tyrant, an 
usurper — that the Treasury is independent of the Executive, 
and that he has wantonly removed one Secretary from office and 
appointed another. 

" The very fact that it requires any effort to expose its enor- 
mities to the universal indignation of a virtuous people, proves 
it not only to be a vast power, but a dangerous power, in a 
country which boasts of the purity of its institutions. It is my 
5 



34 APPENDIX. 

deliberate conviction, that if the power and monopoly of the 
present Bank be continued for another twenty years, it will be 
the veriest despot that ever ruled over any land, a despotism of 
money, without responsibility. No man, hereafter, can expect 
to arrive at the first station in this great republic, without first 
making terms with the despot. It will control 3'our election of 
President, of your Senators, and of your Representatives. If 
such was its power when it stood in the position of an antagonist 
to the Government, what would it be in the hands of corrupt 
men, at the head of affairs, whom it would prostitute itself to 
serve, and whom it could bend to its own purposes. 

" After some further remarks, Mr. P. said he trusted in God, 
that the country might be saved from a despotism such as this ; 
from the blighting influence of tiiis most corrupt and corrupting 
institution that ever existed under the sun ; an institution whose 
practices anvl principles were alike inimical to the existence of 
free Government." 



MR. POLK'S SPEECH 

ON THE 

MAYSVILLE VETO = 

MAY 28, 1830. 

"The violent, vindictive, and unprecedented character of the 
remarks which had just fallen from the member from Ohio [Mr. 
Stanbery] had opened the whole discussion. That member took 
occasion, in the most violent manner, to say that the message of 
the chief magistrate was a low, undignified, electioneering paper ; 
that it had nothing honest in it; that it had nothing candid or 
open in it ; that it was tiie work of his ministry, and not of him- 
self; that the hand of the magician was to be seen in every line 
of it. 

"Mr. P. said he took the liberty to say to the member from 
Ohio that this violent torrent of abuse, poured upon the head of 
the chief magistrate, was gratuitous, and wholly unjustifiable, 
not sustained in a single particular by the truth, and wholly 
unfounded in fact. 

"The member himself did not, and could not believe one word 
of what be had just uttered in the face of the house and of the 
nation. No man in the nation, of any party, who knows the 



POLK ON MAYSVILLE VKTO. S5 

character of the President, believed w hat the gentleman charged 
upon him. He was glad that the member had at length thrown 
off the cloak under which he had covertly acted during the pre- 
sent session. He had been elected to his seat here by the friends 
of the President. If he was correctly informed, he came into 
this house upon the popularity of the venerable man whom he 
now so wantonly assailed. He came here professing to give to 
his administration a fair and an honest support — professing to be 
enumerated among his political friends. Had he sustained one 
single measure which the President recommended ? Not one — 
and it was matter of no regret that the member had at length 
thrown oft" the mask. He cannot claim this occasion, or this 
bill, as a pretext for his desertion from his former professed po- 
litical attachments. What was there in this occasion to call 
forth such a tirade of abuse .►* The President has returned to 
this house, as it was his constitutional right, and, entertaining 
the opinion he did, his duty to do, a bill which had passed Con- 
gress, and been presented to him for his constitutional sanction. 
He had, in a very temperate, and, he added, in a very able man- 
ner, assigned the reasons why he had felt himself constrained, 
from a high sense of public dutr, to withhold his signature and 
sanction from it. We are called upon by an imperative provis- 
ion of the constitution to reconsider the vote by which a major- 
ity of this house had agreed to pass the bill. The bill and the 
message of the President were the fair subjects of deliberation 
and discussion for this house. We were now called upon to dis- 
charge a high constitutional duty on our part. Had the member 
discussed, or even pretended to discuss, a single principle con- 
tained in the message or in the bill ? No! He had chosen to 
make a most wanton attack upon the President. Why was the 
member from Ohio thrown into such a rage? Was it because 
the system of which this bill is a part was so dear to him ? Does 
he not know, will he deny it, that he has heretofore professed to 
be opposed to this whole system? In the last Congress he was 
a member of the committee on manufactures. He voted for the 
tariff, and ostensibly supported it ; but did he not then openly 
say to many gentlemen (not in confidence, for, if it had been so, 
he would be the last man to betray that confidence,) that he was 
opposed to the whole American system — that it was nothing but 
a political hobby ? Did he not say that he would return home 
and revolutionize public opinion in his own district, and in ihs 



S6 APPENDIX. 

whole state of Ohio; that a delusion existed in that State that 
could and should be removed ; that he had never conversed v?ith 
a plain, farming man, and explained to him the operations of this 
American system, but that he convinced him th;it it was against 
his 'interest to support it ? Would the gentleman deny this ? If 
he would venture to do it, he pledged iiimself to prove it upon 
him by many members of this house. It was not, then, the at- 
tachment of the gentleman to this system that could have in- 
duced him to throw into the house the fire-brand that he had. 
That pretext cannot shield him. He best knows (he real cause 
of his present course. He best knows whether he was ever, 
in truth and in fact, the sincere friend of the President, or 
whether he found it convenient to profess to be his friend in 
order to obtain his election to this house. The member iiad 
formed new associations recently — associations with our old po- 
litical adversaries; and he was glad, for the future, to know who 
he was, and where to find him. A covert political adversary 
was much more insidious and dangerous than one that openly 
avowed himself, and acted upon his professions. He had to beg 
the pardon of the house for any apparent warmth which his man- 
ner may have indicated. It had been wholly induced by the 
most unexpected torrent of abuse which fell from the meraber 
from Ohio, so uncalled for by ihe occasion, so unnecessary and 
uncertain in its character, and which produced so visible a sen- 
sation in the house, on all sides of it, and among all parties in it. 
That member was wholly responsible for the excitement which 
it was apparent^pervaded the whole house. 

" The message of the President, he undertook to state, was em- 
phatically his own; and the views presented for the rejection of 
this bill were the result of the honest convictions of his own de- 
liberate reflection. Was it an electioneering measure ? No man 
who knows his character will believe it. The common sense of 
the nation will put to shame the charge. What! an election- 
eering measure! a populariiy-huniing scheme ! Why, sir, if he 
-had been so base, in the discharge of a high constitutional duty, 
as to have been operated upon by such a motive, the indications 
in this Congress — the will of the people, if that will be conectly 
reflected here, a majority of whose representatives originally 
voted for this bill — would have presented the most powerful mo- 
tive why he should have approved and signed this bill. No, sir, 
the President would not be himself, if he had been capable of 



FOLK ON MAYSVILLE VETO. S7 

being influenced in the slightest degree by any such considera- 
tions. Such considerations have no place in minds of the ele- 
vated cast of that of tiie chief magistrate. Such considerations 
are only suited to the bent of such grovelling minds as are them- 
selves capable of making the charge. No, sir, on the contrary, 
on the brink of a great crisis, at a period of unusual political 
excitement, — to save his country from what he conscientiously 
believed to be a dangerous infraction of the constitution — to 
avert the evils which threatened, in its consequences, the long 
continuance of the confederacy upon its original principles, — he 
had, with a patriotism never surpassed, boldly and firmly staked 
himself, his present and his future popularity and fame, against 
what seemed to be the current of public opinion. Had he signed 
this bill, the road on which he would have travelled would have 
been a broad pavement, and his continued elevation certain be- 
yond the possibility of doubt. As it was, he had planted him- 
self upon the ramparts of the constitution, and had taken the 
high responsibility upon himself to check the downward march 
in which the system of which this bill is a part was fast hasten- 
ing us. It required just such a man, in such times, to restore 
the constitution to its original reading. In the course of a long 
and eventful life he had always been equal to any emergency, 
however perplexing or embarrassing his situation might be. He 
had never failed to assume responsibility when he should assume 
it ; and in no instance in his public life had he displayed in a 
more eminent degree that moral courage and firmness of charac- 
ter so peculiarly characteristic of him, than in this. He has 
achieved a civil victory which will shed more lustre upon his 
future fame, and be infinitely more durable, than many such vic- 
tories as that of the battle of Orleans, for, by this single act, he 
verily believed he had done more than any man in this country, 
for the last thirty years, to preserve the constitution and to per- 
petuate the liberties we enjoy. The constitution was, he hoped, 
to be again considered and practised upon, as it, in fact, was one 
of limited powers, and the States permitted to enjoy all the pow- 
ers which they originally intended to reserve to themselves in 
that compact of union. The pernicious consequences, the evil 
tendencies, to say nothing of the corrupting influence of the 
exercise of a power over internal improvements by the federal 
government, were not fully developed until within a very few 
years last past. Mr. Madison, on the last day of his term of 



S8 APPENDIX. 

office, put his veto on the bonus bill. In the followino; year Mr. 
Monroe rejected a bill assuming jurisdiction and fixing tolls on 
the Cumberland road. The subject of the power was discussed 
at great length and with great ability in the next Congress. 
The House of Representatives, by a small majority, at that time 
affirmed the power to appropriate money for objects of national 
improvement, but denied, and by the vote of the house nega- 
tived, the power to construct roads or canals of any character, 
whether military, commercial, or for the transportation of the 
mail. It was not until the last administration that the broad 
power to the extent now claimed, limited only by the arbitrary 
discretion of Congress, was asserted and attempted to be main- 
tained by the Executive and by Congress. It was not until that 
period that its dangers were fully perceived. The President 
had manifested, in the message before us, that he had been an 
attentive observer of its progress, and its probable, if not its in- 
evitable, consequences. He could not shut his eyes to the con- 
stant collisions, the heart-burnings, the combinations, and the 
certain corruption to which its continual exercise would tend, 
both in and out of Congress. In the conscientious discharge of 
a constitutional duty, which he was not at liberty to decline, he 
had withheld his signature from this bill, and had frankly sub- 
mitted to us his views upon this important question ; and he 
trusted we would deliberate upon it temperately, as we should, 
and, in the vote which we were about to give upon the reconsid- 
eration of this bill, according to the powers of the constitution, 
express the opinions which we entertain, and not make a false 
issue, growing out of a personal assault upon the character or 
motives of the chief magistrate." 



COLONEL POLK'S LETTER 
ON TEXAS. 



Columbia, Tenn. April 23, 1S44. 
Gentlemen: Your lettar of tlie SOth ult. which jou have done 
me the honor to address to me, reached my residence during my 
absence from home, and was not received until yesterday. Ac- 
companying your letter, you transmit to me, as you state, " a 
copy of the proceedings of a very large meeting of the citizens 
of Cincinnati, assembled on the 29th instant, to express their 
settled opposition to the annexation of Texas to the United 
States." You request from me an explicit expression of opin- 
ion upon this question of annexation. Having at no time enter- 
tained opinions upon public subjects which I was unwilling to 
avow, it gives me pleasure to comply with your request. I have 
no hesitation in declaring that I am in favor of the immediate 
re-annexation of Texas to the territory and Government of the 
United States. I entertain no doubts as to the power or expe- 
diency of the re-annexation. The proof is clear and satisfactory 
to my mind that Texas once constituted a part of the territory 
of the United States, the title to which I regard to have been as 
indisputable as that to any other portion of our territory. At 
the time the negotiation was opened with a view to acquire the 
Floridas, and the settlement of other questions, and pending 
that negotiation the Spanish Government itself was satisfied of 
the validity of our title, and was ready to recognize a line far 
west of the Sabine as the true western boundary of Louisiana, 
as defined by the treaty of 1803 with France, under which Lou- 
isiana was acquired. This negotiation, which had been first 
opened at Madrid, was broken off and transferred to Washing- 
ton, where it was resumed, and resulted in the treaty of Florida, 
by which the Sabine was fixed on as the western boundary of 
Louisiana. From the ratification of the treaty of 1803 with 
France, until the treaty of 1819 with Spain, the territory now 
constituting the republic of Texas belonged to the United States. 
In 1819 the Florida treaty was concluded at Washington by 



40 • API'ENDIX. 

Mr. John Quincy Adams, (the Secretary of State) on the part 
of the United States, and Don Louis de Onis on the part of 
Spain ; and by that treaty this territory lyin^; west of the Sabine, 
and constituting Texas, was ceded by the United States to Spain. 
The Rio Del Norte, or some more western boundary than the 
Sabine, could have been obtained had it been insisted on by the 
American Secretary of State, and that witliout increasing the 
consideration paid for the Floridas. In my judgment, the coun- 
try west of the Sabine, and now called Texas, was most un- 
wisely ceded away. It is a part of the great valley of the Mis- 
sissippi, directly connected by its navigable waters, with the 
Mississippi river; and having once been a part of our Union, it 
should never have been dismembered from it. The Government 
and people of Texas, it is understood, not only give their con- 
sent, but are anxiously desirous, to be re-united to the United 
States. If the application of Texas for are-union and admis- 
sion into our confederacy shall be rejected by the United States 
there is imminent danger that she will become a dependency, if 
not a colony, of Great Britain — an event which no American 
patriot, anxious for the safety and prosperity of this country, 
could permit to occur without the most strenuous resistance. 
Let Texas be re-annexed, and the authority and laws of the 
United States be established and maintained within her limits, 
as also in the Oregon Territory, and let the fixed policy of our 
Government be, not to permit Great Britain or any other foreign 
power to plant a colony or hold dominion over any portion of 
the people or territory of either. These are my opifiions; and 
without deeming it to be necessary to extend this letter, by 
assigning the many reasons which influence me in the conclu- 
sions to which I come, I regret to be compelled to differ so 
widely from the views expressed by yourselves, and the meeting 
of citizens of Cincinnati, whom you represent. Differing, how- 
ever, with you and with them as I do, it was due to frankness 
that I should be thus explicit in the declaration of my opinions. 
I am, with great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

JAMES K. POLK. 
To Messrs. S. P. Cuase, 

Thomas Heaton, &c. 

Committee, Cincinnati. 



MR. POLK'S OPINIONS ON THE TARIFF. 

The opinions of Mr. Polk on this subject may be summed up 
in a fevv words. In a speech delivered at Jackson, Tennessee, 
on the 3d April, 1843, after a full discussion of the question, he 
concluded his argument by the following condensed declaration: 

"He [Col. Polk] was OPPOSED TO DIRECT TAXES, 
and to prohibitory and protective duties, and in favor of such 
moderate duties as woiild not cut off importations. IN OTHER 
WORDS, HE WAS IN FAVOR OF REDUCING THE DU- 
TIES TO THE RATES OF THE COMPROMISE ACT, 
WHERE THE WHIG CONGRESS FOUND THEM ON 
THE 30th OF JUNE, 1842." 

Here is no non-committal. But, while the Whigs have been 
the first to call up this opinion for political effect, they seem to 
have forgotten how concurrently it runs witii the views of Mr. 
Clay himself, as expressed by him in a speech made in the Senate 
on the 21st January, 1842. The language is taken from the 
National Intelligencer, Mr. C's especial organ. It is for Mr. 
Polk's opponents to say whether this is the honest opinion of 
their candidate. If it be, let them compare it with Mr. P's 
declaration, and draw the distinction, if they can. If it is not, 
let them then settle the question of truthfulness with the people. 
Extract from Mr. Clay's Speech. 

"Carry out then, said he, the spirit of the Compromise Act. 
Look to Revenue alone for the support of Government. Do not 
raise the question of Protection, which I had hoped had been put 
to rest. THERE IS NO NECESSITY OF PROTECTION 
FOR PROTECTION." 

Now, this is our doctrine, " Carry out the spirit of the Com- 
promise Act," as Mr. Clay says: — "Reduce the duties to the 
rates of the Compromise Act," as says Mr. Polk: — " I am for 
supporting the Compromise Act, and never will agree to its being 
altered or repealed," as General Harrison said, in the following 
letter: 

"Zanesville, Novemler 2, 1836. 

" Gentlemen : — I had the honor, this moment, to receive your 
communication of yesterday. I regret that my remarks of yes- 
terday were misunderstood in regard to the tariff' system. 
What I meant to convey was, that Thad been a warm advocate 
for that system upon its first adoption; that I still believe in the 
benefits it had conferred upon the country. But I certainly 
never had, nor ever could have, any idea of reviving it. What 
I said was, that I would not agree to the repeal as it now stands. 
In other words, / am for supporting the Compromise Act, and 
never will agree to its being altered or repealed. 

" In relation to the internal improvement system, I refer you 
for my sentiments to my letter to the Hon. Sherrod Williams. 

" I am, in great haste, with great respect, your fellow citizen. 

"WM. H. HARRISON. 

" Messrs. Foster, Tavlor, and others." 



42 APPENDIX. 

The Whig party have no settled principles in regard to the 
TaritT. In the north and east, amongst the manufacturer s, they 
avow themselves in favor of a " high protective and pro- 
hibitory Tariff." While Mr. Clay and his satellites are 
thus flattering these monopolists, they speak thus of the farm- 
ers: 

Clay's opinion of Farmers. — '■'■ Jlgriadlure needs no pro- 
tection. The habits of farmers, generation after generation, 
pass down a long track of time, in perpetual succession, with- 
out the slightest change ; and the 'ploughman who fastens his 
plough to the tail of his cattle will not acknowledge that there is 
any improvement equal to /iis." 

In the south and west, amongst the farmers and planters, this 
is their doctrine : 

" The prohibition of the fabrics of foreign countries would 
transfer the monopoly to the home manufacturers in the United 
States. The true interests of the consumers are best promoted by 
a competition belu'een the foreign and the national supply. The 
inevitable tendency of that competition is to reduce prices, as 
all experience has demonstrated." — Mr. Clay at JVew Orleans., 
to a committee of his Whig friends iti Virginia, dated Jan. 23, 
1844. 

Col. Polk and the Democratic party entertain the same opin- 
ions in all sections of the country. They are in favor of re- 
viving the " compromise act." The same doctrine which Mr, 
Clay upholds in the south and west, as aflbrding sufficient pro- 
tection, but which he and his friends denounce so violently in 
the north and east, among the manufacturers and capitalists. 
The following is an extract from Col. Polk's speech on the 
Tariff, delivered in the House of Representatives in 1833 : 

" No member of the committee (of which he was one) who 
yielded his assent to this bill, I may safely affirm, desires- to 
prostrate the manufacturer, nor will such, in their judgment, be 
the effect of the bill. I venture to affirm that the bill, so far 
from prostrating these establishments, affords sufficient inci- 
dental PROTECTION to enable all such as are based on real, 
not borrowed, capital, and which are conducted with economy 
and skill, not only to stand, under this bill, but to realize greater 
rates of profit upon the capital and labor employed, than it de- 
yivedfrom any other regular business in the country.''^ 



ANNEXATIO.V. 



MR. DALLAS ON ANNEXATION. 

The following letter was written by the lion. George M. 
Dallas, in reply to a letter of invitation from the Democracy 
of Pittsburgh city and county to unite with them in celebra- 
ting the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. 

" Gentlemen — I am obliged to decline the invitation with 
which you have honored me, to join you in celebrating the 
anniversary of the victory of New Orleans. Our friends of 
this city have arranged for a similar festivity. 

"The national value of General Jackson's chief military- 
achievement is becoming every year more obvious. Great 
Britain, with her usual policy, designed to close the war of 
1812, as well by the capture of the key to the navigation 
of our western waters as by the treaty of Ghent : leaving 
to the uncertainties of negotiation the subsequent surrender 
or permanent retention of her conquest. We have severely 
felt the power of iier protracted diplomacy on more occa- 
sions than one ; and it may well be doubted whether, if 
her arms had secured a strong hold at the mouth of the 
Mississippi, the free use of that vast estuary to her com- 
merce and political schemes, might not ultimately have been 
exacted as an equivalent for some imaginary and exagger- 
ated sacrifice. Nor has experience assured us that any con- 
cession on our part to her rapacity would not be deemed 
by a too conciliatory administration, a better and wiser re- 
sort than war. The heroism which heat back her invasion and 
preserved from rapine and pollution a commercial and bril- 
liant metropolis, filled all iVmerica with exulting delight, and 
commanded the applause of the world, but time is only now 
developing the measureless importance of that exploit to the 
liberties, safety, wealth, and grandeur of our republic. 

" With England at New Orleans, or her steamers free to 
ply the waters of the Mississippi, the expansive virtues of 
our institutions must be fatally impeded. ^Yho^, under such cir- 
cumstances, would look beyond the Sabine, or listen to the 
early cries of an infant commonwealth so distant because so 
severed from us } And yet can any one contemplate the im- 
mense sphere for freedom which Texas opens, — the progres- 
sive advancement of her population, to be protected by our 
laws, to be enlightened by our sciences and arts, to be fed, 
clothed and comforted by our husbandry, manufactures and 
trade, without perceiving that our constitution o[ govern- 
ment would falter in its pledges to humanity at large, if that new 
state, thus propitious to our own prosperity, were alaandoned to 



44 APPENDIX. 

the fate of a mere colony or ministering subservient to European 
domination ! To me, the incorporation of Texas into the Fed- 
eral Union, seems not only the opening of a natural exhausiless 
resource for the fabrics of the eastern and middle states, the 
agricultural products of the southern and western, and the 
activity of our extensive seaboard, but it assumes the aspect of a 
just and necessary consequence upon the genius and maxims of 
our confederated system. I regard our present ability to 
fulfil the high duties of our political existence, in welcoming 
successively every community freshly formed upon the North 
American continent, within the circle of the national com- 
pact, as a legitimate and lineal oti'spring of Gen. Jackson''s 
valor. 

" The 8th of January which thus viewed, bears to the ' Great 
West'' a relation like that of the Fourth of July to the ' Ori- 
ginal Thirteen,'' deserves lasting celebration : — nor is it possible 
to designate a place in our country, whose great and growing 
material interests, harmonizing with her lofty republican prin- 
ciples, can give to that celebration more spirit and emphasis 
than Pittsburgh. 

" Accept then, gentlemen, the assurance of my cordial par- 
ticipation in the sentiments which actuate you, and of my 
sincere thanks for the flattering terms in which you have 
invited my presence at your patriotic commemoration. 

" G. M. DALLAS. " 

Jan. 1, 1844. 



Thfr following are extracted from Gov. Polk's Inaugural 
Address, delivered at Nashville on the 14th of October, 1839, 
in presence of the two Houses of the General Assembly and a 
large concourse of his fellow citizens. 

UNITED STATES BANK. 

"The federal government has at different times assumed or 
attempted to exercise powers which, in my judgment, have not 
been conferred upon that government by the compact. Among 
these I am free to declare my solemn convictiou that the fede- 
ral government possesses no constitutional power to incorporate 
a national bank. The advocates of a bank insist that it would 
be convenient and expedient , and that it would promote the 
'general welfare;' but they have in my judgment failed to 
show that the power to create it is either expressly granted, or 



COL. folk's opinions. 45 

that it is an incident to any express power that is ' necessary 
and proper^ to carry that power into etlect. The alarming dan- 
gers of the power of such a corporation (vast and irresponsible 
as experience has shown it to be) to the public liberty, it does 
not fall within the scope of my present purpose fully to exam- 
ine. We have seen the power of associated wealth in the late 
Bank of the United States, wrestling with a giant's strength 
with the government itself — and although finally overthrown, it 
was not until after a long and doubtful contest. During the 
struggle, it manifested a power for mischief which it would be 
dangerous to permit to exist in a free country. The panic and 
alarm, the distress and extensive sutiering which, in its convul- 
sive struggle to perpetuate its power, it inflicted on the coun- 
try, will not soon be forgotten. Its notorious alliance with 
leading politicians, and its open interference, by means of the 
corrupting power of money, in the political contests of the 
times, had converted it into a political engine, used to control 
elections and the course of public affairs. No restraints of 
law could prevent any similar institution from being the willing 
instrument used for similar purposes. The state of Tennessee, 
through her legislature, has repeatedly declared her settled 
opinions against the existence of such an institution, and at no 
time in its favor. She has instructed her senators and requested 
her representatives in Congress to vote against the establish- 
ment of such an institution. In these opinions, heretofore ex- 
pressed by the state, I entirely concur." 

DISTRIBUTION. 

"Of the same character is the power which at some time lias 
been attempted to be exercised by the federal government, of 
first collecting by taxation on the people a surplus revenue be- 
yond the wants of that government, and then distributing such 
surplus in the shape of donations among the states; a power 
which has not been conferred on that government by any ex- 
press grant, nor is it an incident to any express power ' neces- 
sary and proper' for its execution. To concede such a power, 
would be to make the federal government the tax-gatherer of 
the states, and accustom them to look to that source from which 
to supply the state treasuries, and to defiay the expenses of the 
state governments. It is clear that this constituted no one of 
the objects of the creation of the federal government ; and to 
permit its exercise would be to reduce the States to the de- 
graded condition of subordinate dependencies upon that govern- 
ment, to destroy their separate and independent sovereignty, and 
to make the government of the union in effect a consolidation. 
The power to make provision for the support of its own gov- 



46 APPENDIX. 

ernmerrt, by the levy of the necessary taxes upon its own citi- 
zens, and tlie adoption of such measures of policy for its inter- 
nal government not inconsistent with the federal constitution, as 
may be deemed proper and expedient, ' remains to each state 
among its domestic and unalienated powers exercisable within 
itself, and by its domestic authorities alone.' " 

PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 

" A surplus federal revenue, raised by means of a tariff of 
duties, must necessarily be collected in unequal proportions 
from the people of the respective states. The planting and 
producing states must bear the larger portion of the burden. 
It was this inequality which has heretofore given rise to the 
just complaints of these states, as also of the commercial in- 
terests, against the operations of a high and protective tariff. 
If the proceeds of the sales of the public lands be set apart 
for distribution among the states, as has been sometimes pro- 
posed, the operation and effect would be the same ; for, by ab- 
stracting from the federal treasury the proceeds of the sales of 
the public lands, a necessity is thereby created for an increased 
tariff to the amount thus abstracted. To collect a surplus reve- 
nue by unequal taxation, and then to return to the people, by a 
distribution among the states, their own money, in sums dimin- 
ished by the amount of the cost of collection and distribution, 
aside from its manifest injustice, is a power which it could 
never have been intended to confer on the federal government. 

" When, from the unforeseen operation of the revenue laws of 
the United States, a surplus at any time exists or is likely to 
exist in the federal treasury, the true remedy is to reduce or to 
repeal the taxes so as to collect no more money tlian shall be 
absolutely necessary for the economical wants of that govern- 
ment, and thus leave what would otherwise be surplus uncol- 
lected in the pockets of the people. The act of Congress of 
1836, by which a large amount of the surplus on hand was dis- 
tributed"^among the states, is upon its face a deposite, and not a 
donation, of the sums distributed. The states have become 
the debtors to the federal government for their respective pro- 
portions, and are subject to be called upon to refund it. Had 
the act provided for an absolute donation to the states, so pal- 
pable an infraction of the constitution it is scarcely possible to 
conceive could have been sanctioned. By making it assume 
the form of a mere deposite of the money of the United States 
in the state treasuries for safe keeping until needed for public 
purposes, it became the law. Though it may not be probable 
that the sums distributed on deposite will be called for at an 
early period, if indeed they will ever be, unless in cases of ex- 



COL. folk's opinions. 47 

igencies growing out of a foreign war, yet the states should be 
at all times prepared to meet the call when made ; and it will 
be unsafe for them to rely upon the sums they liave received as 
a permanent fund. They should rather look to their own 
credit and resources in the accomplishment of their purposes." 

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 

" It becomes the duty of all the states, and especially of those 
whose constitutions recognize the existence of domestic slavery, 
to look with watchfulness to the attempts wliich have been re- 
cently made to disturb the rights secured to them by the con- 
stitution of the United States. The agitation of the abolition- 
ists can by no possibility produce good to any portion of the 
union, and must, if persisted in, lead to incalculable mischief. 
The institution of domestic slavery, as it existed at the adop- 
tion of the constitution of the United States, and as it still ex- 
ists in some of the states, formed the subject of one of the 
compromises of opinion and of interest upon the settlement of 
which all the old states became parties to the compact, and 
agreed to enter the union. The new states were admitted into 
the union upon an equal footing with the old states, and are 
equally bound by the terms of the compact. Any attempt on 
the part of the federal government to act upon the subject of 
slavery, as it exists wnthin the states, would be a clear infrac- 
tion of the constitution ; and to disturb it within the district of 
Columbia would be a palpable violation of the public faith, as 
well as of the clear meaning and obvious intention of the 
framers of the constitution. They intended to leave, as they 
did in fact leave, the subject to the exclusive regulation and ac- 
tion of the states and territories within ^vhich slavery existed 
or might exist. They intended to place, and they did in fact 
place it beyond the pale of action within the constitutional 
power of the federal government. No power has been con- 
ferred upon the general government, either by express grant or 
necessary implication, to take cognizance of, or in any manner 
or to any extent to interfere with, or to act upon the subject of 
domestic slavery, the existence of which in many of the states 
is expressly recognized by the constitution of the United States." 



Extract from the Speech of the Hon. S. A. Douglass of Illinois, delmred on 
the od of June, 1844, in reply to his colleague, Gen. Hardin. 

Mr. Douglass said he had not allowed himself to participate in any of the politi- 
cal discussions which had occupied so much of the session, and had not intended to 
say any thing on the present occasion, until he listened to the speech of his cDlleaeue 
(i\Ir. Hardin"), who had just taken his seat. His collea.^ue seemed ambitious to dis- 
tinguish himself as the leader of his party in the presidential campaign, and he wag 
happy to say that he had succeeded in acquiring considerable notoriety in that way. 
Early in the session, it will be recollected, he made a speech, or rather wrote a book, 
for the especial benefit of Mr. Van Buren, under the impression that that eminent 
statesman would be the democratic nominee for the presidency. The action of the 
Baltimore Convention, in the nomination of another distinguished citizen for that ex- 
alted station, has taken my colleague by surprise, and turned all his hopes of a glo- 
rious immortality, from that effort, into bitterdisa))pointment. His stories, anecdotes, 
and witticisms, however much they may be admired for their elegance and beauty, 
have lost their force, and even those beautiful pictures, in which he represented him- 
self and Mr. Van Bureu as standing side by side at an election, have become offensive 
in his own eyes. It is truly a sad disappointment: the loss of his first born political 
speech. To a man of delicate feelings and keen sensibility it is indeed a severe afflic- 
tion — one under which, as we have seen, the stoutest heart and the firmest nerves 
sink almost in despair. I deeply sympathize with my colleague in his misfortune, 
and on this account excuse, as no doubt the house will, the almost savage ferocity 
with which he has pounced upon Col. Polk as the Democratic candidate for the presi- 
dencv. The provocation is very great, and some indulgence is due to the passions 
and frailties of human uature. Although the e.^ihibitioiis of this day might seem to 
justify a different opinion, I assure the house that my colleague, if not provoked and 
irritated, is naturally a very amiable man. 

I propose, so far as my time will permit, to analyze the assaults upon Col. Polk, 
and see how far they will bear the test of investigation. It is a source of gratification 
that they are all of a political nature ; none of them affecting his private and moral 
character. I have witnessed with feelings of pride and pleasure the complete and 
unequivocal evidence which his i)olitical adversaries have borne to his moral worth 
und purity of character, as a gentleman and a citizen. 

The first severe thrust my colleague aimed at Col. Polk was that, when compared 
with Mr. Van Buren, " he was but a pigmy beside a giant." I was not aware that 
my colleague considered Mr. Van Buren a "giant." I find nothing of this kind in 
his former speech, nor did I suppose that he so truly appreciated the moral greatness 
and intellectual power of that illustrious man. 1 confess myself agreeably disap- 
pointed, as I have no doubt the people of Illinois will be, when they learn that those 
who have been the most industrious in abusing and traducing Mr. Van Buren, have 
discovered that he is not only a great man, but even a giant, when compared with his 
distinguished countrymen. 'But a few weeks ago, when Mr. Van Buren was sup- 
posed to be a candidate for the presidency, he was a mere pigmy ; but now he has 
become a giant, and Col. Polk is the pigmy. When Col. Polk shall have served his 
presidential term, and retired to private life, I suppose he, in his turn, will become 
the giant, and his Democratic successor the pigmy, in the estimation of my honorable 
colleague. It has been objected to Col. Polk, by authority equally high, and entitled 
to about the same weight, that " he was an industrious follower of Gen. Jackson 
throughout his whole life;" and in consequence of the intimate personal relations be- 
tween them, as well as the perfect concurrence in their political opinions, and prin- 
ciples, and action, he has been called the " YOUNG HICKORY," as if there were 
something in that name calculated to excite a prejudice in the minds of the American 
(•"ople. He is emphatically a Young Hickory. The unwavering friend of Old 
Hickory in all his trials— his bosom companion— his supporter and defender on all oc- 
casions, in public and in private, from his early boyhood until the present moment. 
No man living possessed General Jackson's confidence in a greater degree, or dis- 
played more zeal and ability in defending his fame from the slanders of his enemies, 
and in carryinz out the great republican principles with which his administration was 
identified. It' is not surprisinsr, therefore, that those enemies should direct their ven- 
geance at the head of Col. Polk, and sneeringly call him the " Young Hickory." 
That he has been the industrious follower of General Jackson in those glorious con- 
tests for the defence of his country's rights, will not be deemed the unpardonable sin 
by the American people, so long as their hearts beat and swell with gratitude to their 
great benefactor. He is the very man for the times—" a chip of the old block," of 
the true hickory stump. The people want a man whose patriotism, honesty, ability, 
and devotion to Democratic principles have been tested and tried in the most stormy 
times of the republic, and never found wanting. That man is James K. Polk of Ten- 
nessee. 



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